.................. Paige Manning, 8117, 20311: September 2014

Overview: There is a group of friends which have known each other for years but a new girl starts at the school so they decide to befriend her. Everything is normal until Paige comes along. One night, Paige has an idea to play an Ouija board. The group of friends are uncertain but Paige lures them into it by explaining that she has done it before. Fortunately no spirit tried to communicate with the group during the game, except one. Paige was absent from school the next couple of days so the group decide to go see her. One by one the group was disappearing until one night josh found her.

Pitch:

A group of friends decide to play with an Ouija board. Fortunately no spirit communicates with them during the game. However over the next few days everything changes. Firstly, the new girl in town, Paige disappears with no contact. Slowly one by one the group of friend descend with no evidence until one night Josh decides to go find Paige. He finds her in her candlelit bedroom, Ouija board in the middle of the room surrounding by bodies, the bodies of the group of friends. Paige appears out of the darkness and Josh is never seen again. Is Paige still out there? Nobody knows.

My two chosen film trailers to analyse are Jessabelle and Mama, these films fit into the genre Horror.

JESSABELLE

Director: Kevin Greutert
Producer: Jason Blum
Cast: Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, Joelle Carter
Production: Blumhouse productions
Distributer: Lionsgate

Narrative: Returning to her childhood home in Louisiana to recuperate from a horrific car accident, Jessabelle comes face to face with a long-tormented spirit that has been seeking her return and has no intention of letting her escape.

Costume: The costume of the daughter and the father are pretty much normal such as dresses and white t-shirts showing happiness however this changes throughout the trailer to darker clothing such as black vests showing the change in the house and that it is not a friendly place that it used to be.

Props: Props such as a wheelchair is used for the main character which is the daughter, the fact that she has a disability represents that she is vulnerable which could be a reason why she is targeted. Another prop which is used is a coin which is in focus and leads to video tapes, the audience does not where the coin has come from or what it means therefore this gains the audiences attention and makes them want to watch the film. The house and basic props are very old fashioned and eery which gives an haunting affect.
Sound: The trailer starts by being silent and then a phone ringing and heavy breathing down the other line, the trailer starting like this is a common convention and gets the audience hooked straight away. It then changes to a religious sounding soundtrack representing the horror genre and giving away certain conventions of a horror movie such as spirits and exorcism. As the night draws in and the hauntings start the sound gets faster and more deep creating suspension. The silence creates tension and there is vague whispers and screams which is jumpy.

Lighting: The lighting is dark when Jessabelle is on the phone which is in the beginning of the trailer, this is low key lighting because it is the first scary bit of the trailer, the phone call is just breathing and Jessabelle says 'Dad' which doesn't make sense to the audience as we do not know any narrative which gives a sense of uncertainty and intrigues the audience. The lighting of when nothing is happening when Jessabelle is on the boat represents happiness and the lighting soon changes to dark when they find her grave and different symbols. The house is bright when Jessabelle arrives but throughout the movie it stays at night time. Low key lighting such as candles is used at what point where the hauntings happen showing fear and danger of fire.

Camera and Editing: Close ups and point of view shots are mainly used and this is throughout the whole movie when all the haunting happens. This is because it makes the audience realize how the person in the movie is feeling for example Jessabelles expression when he boyfriend dies and when she sees her mother on the tape. There are many long and establishing shots showing Jessabelle's surroundings such as the lonely corridor where she is on the phone and the isolated house giving a lonely vibe. There is close ups of important features in the movie such as the coin, the tapes and the gravestone they find in the woods, all of these things intrigue the audience as they don't know whats going on. The pace of the shots gets faster towards the end of the trailer showing the intensity of the horrors that which are happening.

Dialogue: The dialogue at the start of the trailer is the father apology for the death of the boyfriend which was seen in the trailer and 'its nice to see you' implies they have not seen each other for a while. Most of the dialogue is shows on a tape of Jessabelle's dead mother giving her card readings which links in with the religious soundtrack. The text helps set up the horrific genre as it is dark and spooky like as it is dark and mysterious, the text says things which allow the audience to understand the issues which are going on. The text also gives the institution information while there is events happening which intrigues the audience as they want to see what is happening.

MAMA

Director: Andres Muschietti
Producer: J. Miles Dale, Barbara Muschietti
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier
Production: Toma 78, De Milo Productions
Distributer: Universal Pictures

Narrative: The senior partner of an investment brokerage has abreakdown due to finical collapse and kills several co-workers along with his wife. He then kidnaps his two daughters, Victoria 3 and Lilly just 1. He drives the car recklessly through a winding snowy road. He loses control and finds an isolated cabin where he plans to kill himself and the daughters but the children are saved by a dark ghostly image. After five years of searching and depleting his savings, Jeffrey's twin brother, Lucas, finds the children that were raised without social interaction and claim that they have been raised by 'Mama'. Lucas disputes the custody with the children's Great Aunt but Dr. Dreyfuss, who is working with the girls, helps Lucas get custody of the girls so that he can still have access to them. Lucas, his girlfriend Annabel, Victoria and Lilly move into a house provided be the institute that Dr. Dreyfuss works for. Lucas and Annabel soon find out that the girls have brought Mama with them and their lives are in great danger.

During this trailer quite a lot of the narrative is revealed, but not the entire story line. They show key events which happen and lead up to the hauntings. This however manages to reveal massive amounts of the story line yet still leave the audience with questions to why certain things happened. This is important because then the audience is left with curiosity meaning they will want to watch the entire movie to answer their questions.

Costume: The costumes for the children are very basic and sometimes very little clothing this shows deprivation and that they have been living in the wilderness alone for a long time when they are changed to love in the house they still look scruffy and unwanted representing that are still not used to this 'normal' life. The scientist is wearing a suit showing that he is high in status and knows what he is talking about therefore he is looked up to and listened to with the actions they take showing he is an important character that is took note of. The uncle and his girlfriend are wearing normal everyday clothes showing that they have no importance.

Props: The props that are used are normal everyday basic props that children would have normally such as a normal bedroom with pink bed sheets and curtains as well as toys such as dolls and teddy bears showing the normality of the house and what 'normal' children are to be like. As they have been in no contact with humans for the past five years there is things to stimulate the brain and increase education such as numbers along the wall and colouring crayons for them to draw with.

Body Language: The body language of the children is very closed and they do not have much confident. this is because they have not communicated with humans for a while. The body language of the scientist is very open and he is very broad as he feels confident of his intelligence and research in to the children. The uncle of the children is open but his body language changes when he speaks to the children as he goes down to their level also looking like he is curling up in to a ball. The uncles girlfriend is always very open and does not reach down to the children's level even when Mama is attacking them which shows she is a strong character.

Sound: The trailer 'Mama' begins with a soft piano sound, the door creak is a typical convention of a horror film. The mysterious music almost sounds as if someone is breathing. The soundtrack is quite slow but scary to start off with which goes quieter then gets louder as things start to occur in the house with the children, as the music gets faster and louder throughout the audience gets more scared as they are expecting the worst.

Lighting: The lighting is very low key and dark when they found the children as is it only a cabin and there is no humans. The children are dark shadows which makes it more interesting to how lonely they are. The lighting in the room that they are kept in with the scientist is bright and very high key lighting this represents happiness and they are trying to help them but the children are seen to be more comfortable under the bed where it is dark showing that they are unconfident. The house is bright with high key lighting from lamps in the house showing it is a safe and friendly environment however this soon changes to being lit with low key lighting and even sometimes no lighting at all showing that now that Mama is here it is unsafe and very dangerous.

Camera and Editing: Close ups and point of view shots are mainly used and this is throughout the whole movie when all the haunting happens. This is because it makes the audience realize how the person in the movie is feeling. The pace begins quite slowly when the voice over narrates the movie and slow scenes introduce the girls with their animalistic characteristics. Then, when the haunting begins the pace gets faster and shots get smaller and flick through rapidly. Then the pace goes slowly again and more narrating is done, followed again by fats pace and haunting scenes! All transitions are there which I expect from this movie, fades to black is mostly used which gives a scary haunting effect as it makes the on goings seem dark and unusual which they are and then put the audience in the same position the characters are within the movie and becomes more horrific. The close up shot of the boot gives the audience a slight hint to what the story is, as well as emphasizing innocence and vulnerability of the young child. The low angle shot of the abandoned girl makes the man look inferior to her, which would create fear within the audience, also giving a sense of danger about her. The high angle shot denotes the innocence of the young girl, she's frightened and inferior however the mise-en-scene of her 'filthy' appearance would leave the audience suspicious. The panning high angle shot of the girl sat in the corner, again, highlights the vulnerable state of the children. This girl is covering her face implying that the other girl has a more important role than her. The focus shot of the butterfly also implies that this will be a significant feature of the film, as it appears several times. The shot of the whole house emphasizes the isolation of the area, which is a typical horror film convention, the dark setting is also typical as scary events usually happen at night.

Dialogue: The voice over verbally narrates the movie and explains what’s on going. This is helpful because it sets the scene for the audience of what exactly the situation is. The dialogue is played over the soundtrack in the movie giving us a montage of different events building up to what happens at the end which is obviously not shown. The text also helps set up the horrific genre as it is dark and spooky like, the text says things which allow the audience to understand the issues which are going on. The text also gives the institution information while there is events happening which intrigues the audience as they want to see what is happening.