Trailer Information

Initial ideas

Idea 1: Existential horror: Ordinary person is given the ability to see ‘God’. (not meant to be as theistic as it sounds) They continue with their daily life but struggle with the heavy mental toll this brings and whether or not they should continue living their comparatively puerile life or die and stop living in the agony of being corporeal while having infinite Eldritch-Horror like knowledge of existence.

Plot of trailer: Adult male/female, the picture of averageness is walking up their patio to their house. They begin to hear a low, bassy rumble around them that is faint at first. They unlock the door and the screen cuts to black for the person to reappear, setting their keys down hesitantly as the rumbling does not fade, in fact becoming louder. They stand still, waiting/honing in on the sound before it begins to sound more like static. The screen fades to static and eventually cuts to white. Our protagonist reappears in a sideways foetal position on their sofa in a cold sweat. They’re shaking. Any sound that can be heard is muffled. They begin to readjust themselves, unfurling meekly on to the sofa and reaching their remote, turning on the TV. A news channel. They begin saying what the reporter says as they say it, then eventually before it’s come out of her mouth. Protagonists slaps their hands over their mouth and squeezes their eyes shut. Black, then images of infinity. Galaxies, then planets, then chemical reactions taking place, a point of view from an infant, just born, something horrific, but indescribable and unidentifiable, then black, except for the occasional specks of a galaxy cluster. The protag opens their eyes again, veins visible on their forehead. Their eyes are bloodshot. Very faintly can be heard millions of voices, occasionally cutting out to absolute silence, then continuing. From here the protagonist is in a montage of living their life. They can’t taste the coffee they drink, they barely, barely register it when they are touched by their loved one. They see right through people when they hold a conversation but still hold it without trouble. Cut to an extreme closeup of them talking while slowly zooming in. They can’t be heard, the low murmur of millions of voices swells in to a chorus, then cuts to black. Title, release date.

Idea 2: Found footage. Cloverfield-esque monster attack at a school. Mother creature has spawn that infiltrates the school and picks off students, trying to make the school in to a nest for its kin. Soon, the eggs will hatch. May need props for the eggs, they will be out of focus so papier mache will do.

Plot of trailer: Minute long, chaotic trailer. Blurs of panicked faces while monster can be heard screeching in distance, other miscellaneous sounds of human panic, faint, extremely heavy, Jurassic park style footsteps can be heard as buildings are crushed off camera. The camera finally adjusts to show the wet-with-tears, panic stricken face of a teenage boy who has decided to record current events. His surroundings are dark, he’s hiding under a table seemingly unaccompanied until another voice pipes up: ‘This won’t protect us, Michael!’ followed by a frantic: ‘Shut the fu-‘ he is cut off by a much closer sound of impact. The person from before lets out a hand-muffled but guttural cry: ‘It’s gonna get us, its gonna fuckinggetuswe’regonnadie!’ His sentences begin to slur together and after a close-by screech is heard, the already shaking camera topples and then cuts out with a crackle. Black screen for two seconds. A fade in, struggling-to-focus-shot of something that looks remarkably like a large egg.

Idea 3: Horror comedy. A mutated form of Cat Scratch Fever starts infecting humans at an extremely fast rate causing the infected to become savagely protective of the cat that infected them. The only way to find a cure is to find a cat carrying the disease and get past its zombiefied owner.

Plot of trailer:

Primary audience and misc. information

Horror movies usually aren’t watched by older audiences, usually those over 50 so my trailer will be directed towards people 18-35. Although my trailer will be directed to any gender I suspect it will be most popular with men as horror is seen as a ‘male genre’. Most of these trailers will either appeal to students and anyone from middle class and downwards since they can relate to the characters being in the same demographic as they are. It is made to entertain as well as inform, so it will need things such as an age rating, the date of its release and its title.

SWOT analyses

SWOT Analysis – Idea 1 – Existential horror

Strengths – Relatively original idea

Weaknesses – Concept may go over the audience’s heads since there will only be a trailer to go by

Opportunities – Using effects in editing to our advantage to create a convincing portrayal of how scary mental horror can be rather than the physical

Threats - Difficult to convey the theme on a low budget

SWOT Analysis – Idea 2 – Monster horror/Found footage

Strengths – Popular genre, is usually received well

Weaknesses - Without visual effects like CGI the point of the trailer may suffer since you can’t see the monster

Opportunities – We can use sound effects to fill what visual effects lack which creates a sense of mystery

Threats – The effects may be unconvincing and be interpreted as humorous

SWOT Analysis – Idea 3 – Cat Scratch Fever

Strengths – Cats are present around the campus so footage of them will not be difficult to acquire

Weaknesses – Comedy horror may not be as well received

Opportunities – Opportunity to use alternative ‘casting’ and create something more unique than usual horror

Threats – Filming animals can be difficult

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