Use of sounds within horror films

In the horror genre sound is a key convention in the horror genre as it can be used to express the suspense and tension in a scene. Sound is also used to scare the audience either through the use of a sting (a loud high pitched sound/piece of music) or through the lack of sound such as an ambient silence which confuses the audience as they wonder what is going to happen next.

Sting

A sting like a said previously is a loud high pitched sound or loud piece of music, it is normally created with the use of string instruments such as a violin as they can reach very high pitched notes that can create an ominous atmosphere which further creates tensions as it scares the audience. On the other hand a music sting doesn't always have to be a piece of music it could also be a diegetic sound from within the film which can be useful as they allow the film to show the characters reactions to the sting as well. These types of stings can vary in most cases they are a loud scream usually a woman's as they are stereotypically shown as the victims in the horror genre. They usually occur when a character is being a killed and the sting acts their last words which alerts the other characters in the film so that they know something is amidst. In contrast, the sting may also come from the antagonist of the film when they try to scare the protagonists catching them off guard. This is also normally seen if the antagonist is a woman most likely because stereotypically women can reach higher pitches than men so a woman would find it easier to replicate the sound of a sting. this scares the audience as stings act in the same way as jump scares coming from out of nowhere usually after an ambient silence which will catch the audience of  guard, these can also occur after a false scare as the audience would not be expecting another jump scare immediately after a scare.

Character themes

Arguably the most iconic things about a horror movie villain, excluding their appearance, the song that plays when they are on screen hunting down their victims. A good character theme is important for any character in a film as audiences should be immediately able to recognize who is about to appear by the song that is playing which then builds hype which builds up until we see them appear on screen. Character themes are not only limited to the horror genre even appearing in other forms of media such as video games. Arguably the most well known character theme in film history is the Imperial March which belongs to the tyrannical sith lord Darth Vader first appearing from the critically acclaimed Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Even in the first few seconds you can straight away tell whos theme this is even if you haven't seen a star wars film as it has been referenced countless times in the media. The theme starts of quiet but quickly gets louder as the iconic them begins to play. Below I have created a list of key parts within the song:

0:00 - 0:09: The initial build up the same notes are repeated, which starts to build up suspense and tension especially with the use of percussion instruments (cymbals) just before the notes repeat which may symbolize something approaching getting nearer and nearer as they sound very similar to footsteps.

0:10 - 0:28: The main motif starts this is the part that is always associated with Vader with this motif being played most times when he appears on screen. It can easily be recognized by the many brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones that appear in this section as the noises that they make overpowers the rest of the instruments being played as brass instruments can produce a very loud sound this will also make the audience feel weak and insecure as they feel like the other instruments being weak and powerless.

0:40 - 0:46: The motif reaches its pinnacle more instruments are used to make the theme sound more intense and intimidating the theme immediately becomes quiet afterwards. At this moment the brass instruments are overpowered by a multitude of other instruments yet they can still be heard which makes the song sound that much more louder making the audience feel weak as they bask in the songs glory.

0:47 - 1:48: The theme becomes quiet with very few instruments being used as if it was the calm before the storm. However, we slowly start to hear more instruments begin playing the main motif with the theme slowly getting louder and louder until it is back to what it was before it went quiet the them then repeats one more time. This shows that even when all the over instruments become quiet the main motif still continues to play emphasizing how powerful the motif is.

As I mentioned earlier character themes appear in almost every form of media and one of those that I previously mentioned was video games. Much like films these themes are also meant to be recognizable so that fans of certain characters and can get hyped for their appearance. However, unlike in films most villain themes are only heard by the player when they are fighting them in a boss fight so they usually made to set the atmosphere of a long, thrilling battle. The theme that I going to analyse is One Winged Angel the theme song of Sephiroth the final boss of Final Fantasy VII (1997).

The version that i'm analysing is from the game Kingdom Hearts (2002) as the it is an updated version of the original making it sound more powerful when listening to.

0:00 - 0:18: The initial build up you can immediately hear the beat created by the cymbals and the eerie piano which was used to strike as much fear into the player as possible by making Sephiroth sound more intimidating.

0:19 - 0:32: The main chorus kicks in with the most noticeable thing being the ominous chanting which is a actually in Latin and translates to 'Burning inside with violent anger, Burning inside with violent anger, Sephiroth Sephiroth!' This has been done to further scare the player as they will most likely be unable to understand what they are saying except for when they chant Sephiroth's name which creates a fear of the unknown effect.

0:50 - 1:05: The second part of the chorus occurs with different chanting which is still in Latin and translates to 'Fate monstrous and empty, Fate monstrous and empty' and by reading the lyrics in English you can see how sinister they have tried to make the song as this chorus can also be interpreted as saying that there is no hope making Sephiroth appear to be an almighty force

1:22 - 1:48: The final part of the chorus and like before the chanting is different but before I talk about that the first thing that I notice is that the instruments change as before the chanting begins you can hear a loud drum beat which continues to get louder a violin is also used in unison with the drums to make mini stings which I believe has been used to replicate a heart beating very fast which can occur when a person is terrified which intern will make the player become scared. Now looking at the lyrics they translate to 'Come, come, O come, Do not let me die Come, come, O come, Do not let me die' now this could be interpreted in many ways the come, O come part could be Sephiroth challenging the player to attack perhaps trying to intimidate them and the do not let me die may be Sephiroth mocking the player as he is a very difficult boss in the game so a player would always be telling themselves not to die.

But I've been digressing from my original point how is sound used in a horror film? So I will now look at the theme of an iconic horror movie villain. The villain whos theme i'll be analysing is none other than Jason Voorhees the iconic killer from the Friday the 13th film series i'm using his theme as I believe that it truly captures the fear and tension that a horror villains theme should have.

This theme is used in many of the older films in the series however certain parts of his modern theme may homage the original theme (similar instruments) this plays when Jason is attacking his victims.

0:00 - 0:17: Right at the start of the theme we here a sudden music sting created with a violin which plays throughout the song this can also scare the audience as it starts so suddenly they would never see it coming. Listening to violin it sounds disoriented and erratic which may be symbolism for how Jason kills as he is unpredictable killing whoever he wishes whenever he wishes with no visible pattern or order.

0:18 - 0:20: We here Jason say his signature 'Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma' chant while an eerie sound can be heard in the background at this time there are no other instruments playing which makes the theme much more unsettling to listen to

0:21 - 0:25: The violin is played making sharp sounds in quick concession this may be reference to one of the more common methods that Jason kills his victims as he uses his machete to stab them quickly and repeatedly    

0:37 - 0:40: A piano is used to create a sound that starts off slow and low pitched but quickly becomes high pitched which is repeated three times I believe this has been used to create the effect of insanity as the repeating sound may make the audience feel like they are in an never ending nightmare and they are slowly using their minds.

0:53 - 2:27: Personally I think that this is the most interesting part of the theme as in this large section the music becomes much more calm and quieter despite the same instruments still being used almost making the theme unusually soothing. However it still manages to keep the tension high as eerie sounds can be heard throughout this section which when combined with the faint sounds if the instruments creates a very ominous atmosphere. Furthermore Jason's chant can be heard multiple times in this section (0:53 - 0:57 and 1:43 - 1:45) this creates the idea that we are place in the characters shoes and are hiding from Jason and whenever we think we are safe only to hear him voiding us of all hope we had to survive.

2:28 - 2:34: We hear a trumpet in the background which slowly gets louder but then stops this could of been done to build up the rest of the song which helps creates suspense for the rest of the song. The rest of the song repeats themes that I have already discussed essentially going back to what it sounded like before the song became quieter.

Silence

The final type of sound that i'll be analysing is the lack of sound otherwise known as silence. In most cases silence in a horror film is used to build up fear and suspense which usually leads to a jump scare. This were silence flourishes as it makes jump scares much more effective as it goes from a dead silence which makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next to a sudden loud noise which will shock the audience as it occurs in an instant. This makes it a very effective tool to use when scaring the audience.

Narrative Research

I'm going to be discussing the different types of narrative that my groups trailer could follow. Before I start I should probably mention that the narratives in trailer can be at times bizarre this is because most trailers try not to tell you a lot about the films story as it has a chance at of ruining the experience for some of the audience as whats the point of going to see a film if you know whats going to happen in it? This can be seen in many film trailers such as Castaway (2000) which shows Tom Hanks character escaping the island which is what the entire film is suppose to be building up to constantly making the audience wonder if he will survive but as this scene is shown in the trailer it makes the entire build up to the film pointless, Another recent example of this would be Terminator Genisys (2015) where John Connor the main protagonist of the entire Terminator franchises is revealed to of been transformed into a T-3000 terminator who is also the main antagonist of the film which ruins arguably one of the biggest plot twists in the terminator series. This means that when audiences went to see the film they would not be shocked by the plot twist as it was already spoiled for them when the trailer was released. Because of this when we create our film trailer we will try to implement basic story elements but also including scene that keep the audience thinking such as showing the killers victims before the killer is revealed to make them wonder who or what the killer is, this is also so that the films plot is not spoiled which would ruin it for the audience.

Looking at narrative structures there are 3 types of narrative that I'll be analysing these are linear, circular and episodic all of which serve different purposes than the other.

Linear

Linear is the most basic form of narrative which can be described as a single path way that never loops. It consists of a beginning a middle and a end and can link very well with Todorov's equilibrium theory as the beginning will show the first equilibrium and its disruption, the middle shows the protagonists acknowledging said disruption and the ending shows the restoration of the equilibrium intern forming a brand new one. Linear narratives are seen in a large majority of films that are released due to the fact to they can be easily followed by a large audience which can range from children to elderly people. Because of this many linear narrative films are part of the family film genre so that it can be enjoyed by all ages an example of these can be many of the films that Disney release as they are targeted to families. However when applying this narrative to my groups film trailer I can see that no matter how linear the narrative is film trailers consist of parts of the film cut into pieces and rearranged which is why the things we see in the trailer don't always appear in that same order when the film is released. Furthermore, in some ways trailers break the linear narrative as the purpose of a trailer is to hype up the audience for the film but not spoil it for them this can be seen. Trailers break up linear narratives through editing techniques such as cutting to black before showing another clip from the film to make this more entertaining for the audience these cuts to black will usually include text for the audience to read while the transition happens.

Lucas Films Logo

The Mysterious Man

Here you can see the trailer for the film Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015) which is an example of a film with a non-linear narrative. This can be seen as the trailer fades/cuts to black to change the scene showing the audience a variety of  different characters and locations with no connection to each other so that they feel like they haven't been spoiled. This can be seen at the start of the trailer as it starts of showing us Rey the films protagonists scavenging through a destroyed star ship after this scene the trailer fades to black showing us Lucas Films (the production company) logo so that the audience can recognise who is making it which can also hype up the audience as they will associate Lucas Films with the Star Wars Franchise. The trailer then fades in to an army of Stormtroopers attending a speech from their commander, the trailers tone drastically changes at this point despite keeping the same music as before the fade the tone was mysterious and mystifying as we wonder what Rey is doing but after the fading the tone becomes more eerie as while the music is the same the we are being shown more violent scenes such as a TIE fighter getting blasted out of the sky as it falls towards the planet. Another fade happens after this where the music becomes more sinister and ominous as it fades to a mysterious man shrouded in darkness with the camera closing in on him the red tint on the camera makes him appear even more threatening and powerful.

The next major fade to black can be seen is just after the millennium falcon chase scene as it fades to Rey and Finn another one of the films protagonist listening to someone speak it is then revealed that this person is Han Solo one of the most famous Star Wars characters of all time. Because of this fans will immediately recognise him which excites them for the film as without spoiling anything it suggests that other beloved characters from the franchise could return. This provides the audience with key information about the film as it shows us a character who is going to be very important to the plot of the film without spoiling their role in anyway which pleases the audience.

All of these cuts and fades have been used to keep the audience fascinated with whats going on in the trailer by connecting a variety of different scenes from many parts of the film they are also rearranged into a new order so that the audience can not see any potential plot points or connections among each scene. However it still manages to show intense action scenes and vital key information about the film without ruining the story for any fans of the film series. The text in the trailer is also included for the audience as it gives them important information about the film such as its release date this conforms with Blumler and Katz 1974 theory as it is educational for the audience as they are learning more about the film which will get them interested in seeing it when it is released.

Circular

A circular narrative is arguably the most complex narrative I'll be analysing. How it works is that as the story progresses it will ultimately end where it all began making it go into a big circle. Unlike linear circular narratives don't follow Todorov's equilibrium theory as it would start at the end which would skip past the entire disruption of the equilibrium. The main ways that circular narratives work is by showing a sequence from the films climax (usually a fight or war) and the rest of the film is a flash back of how the characters got to that point usually than playing the clip from the beginning again so that the audience can realise that the plot has gone full circle. As this can be complicated to follow the films are usually targeted to older audiences as children may not be able to full understand what is happening in the film. A good example of a circular narrative film is Citizen Kane (1941) which starts at the end of the film and the rest is a flashback of how Kane got there.

Episodic

The last form of narrative that I'll be analysing is episodic narrative. This is when the story is broken up into multiple segments these are commonly seen in TV series with each segment being a different episode which furthers the overall story and if the story does not progress in an episode it is a usually a filler episode to give the audience something while are more complicated episode is being produced. This type of narrative also appears in many forms of media such as books as if a book is popular a sequel (volume) will be released further progressing the story. Episodic narratives also appear in video games such as The Walking Dead (2012) by Telltale games who released new episodes every couple of months to progress the games story. Now looking at episodic narratives in films like books if a film is very popular it will receive a sequel which progresses the original films story by expanding upon its elements such as revealing more about a characters back story or introducing brand new characters who are important in the films story. This type of narrative can attract a large audience except the audience will have to be patient to find out how the story progresses as they will have to wait for the next film to be released. A great example of a film series that follows this narrative is the original Star Wars trilogy with second film The Empire Strikes Back (1980) expanding on many things from the first films such as showing that the empire is still a threat even without the death star and revealing the shocking truth about Luke's origins showing that he is Darth Vader's son. 

After analysing the 3 types of narrative I believe that the best one for our groups film trailer would be a linear narrative. This is because a trailer is meant to attract an audience to whatever it is showing (film, game, etc) so they need to be able to understand what they are looking that and decide if it is something they would be interested seeing and as a linear narrative is the most basic narrative many people will be able to follow it. This can be explained through John Fiske's genre theory which states that genre is convenient to both the audience and producers as if the genre is easy to follow a genre such as action/adventure as they are usually targeted to larger audience including families so they are made to be understood by young audiences but still be enjoyable for older audiences. The same thing applies for narratives as a linear narrative film would have to be simple enough for younger audiences to watch but still interesting for older audiences. because of this will try to make the genre in are film trailer very clear from the start so that a large audience can easily follow the trailer. Also if we were to use a more complex form of narrative such as circular we may accidentally spoil key parts to the film as most parts of the films trailer would most likely appear near the climax of the film as that's how circular narratives in films work and episodic narrative won't work in a trailer as they are a continuation of a films story and the story doesn't appear in detail in a films trailer as it may spoil the film for some people so using episodic is out of the question.

Media Trailer Analysis

In an earlier post I briefly analysed the trailer for the film Rings (2017) but I only talked about the conventions and how these conform to things that media theorists have stated in the past. I'm now going to analyse another horror action film trailer and do an in depth analysis on its contents.

The trailer that I'm going to be analysing is the trailer for the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th. So that my group can see slasher film trailers are created and what can we use for inspiration when we make our film trailer.

Genre

Sack Jason
as seen in the reboot

The film like its predecessors is part of the slasher genre and because of this we see many genre conventions. Firstly the killers identity remains hidden throughout the film. This can be seen clearly within the trailer as Jason Voorhees (The antagonist of the series) wears his signature hockey mask to hide his identity, he also is seen wearing a sack over his head which is a reference to what he originally wore in Friday the 13th Part II (1981). Another convention that fits with this trailer is that the killer is the way they is because of a past traumatic experience. This clearly conforms with Jason's character as his main goal is revenge on the camp counsellors at Camp Crystal lake as they let him drowned in the lake when they were meant to be protecting him and also because one of them killed Pamela Voorhees, Jason's mother, in the first film released in 1980. Furthermore, the film also shows many conventions of horror films in general. This can be seen throughout the trailer as the eerie music is used to create suspense and tension which slowly builds up getting faster and louder as the trailer progresses then suddenly the music stops for a couple seconds and suddenly Jason appears behind his victim and kills her scaring the audience. The instruments used to create this effect are usually string instruments such as the violin as they can be used to create sharp, high pitched sounding noises, which is the same reason they are used to create music stings, to scare the audience as the loud noises occur very suddenly.

Also, the slasher genre as a whole conforms with theorist John Fiske's theory on how genre is convenient for the audience and producers. This can be seen as audiences who go to see Slasher films know what to expect as its a very conventional sub genre as it will always a have a killer who appears to be invulnerable as they never stay dead, the group of protagonists will be killed in very brutal ways with one of them usually being punished for promiscuity. However, while these sound like negatives as it makes them sound repetitive the audience of the Slasher genre enjoy seeing these as they are what makes the genre unique to the rest of the horror genre and audiences know what they are getting into before seeing allowing them to enjoy the film more. The Slasher genre is also convenient for producers as it means that as the audience enjoy seeing the films the producers will make a larger profit and intern release more films of the same genre to capitalise on the success. This can be seen with the Friday the 13th film series as in a span of 10 years Paramount pictures released 9 Friday the 13th films even though the 3rd film having the tag line 'The Final Chapter' only for the 4th film to have the tag line 'A New Beginning' despite it still being a sequel to the 3rd film and not a reboot of the franchise. Also it should be stated that John Fiske created this theory in 1987 and during this decade the Slasher genre was its peak in success.

Camerawork

The camerawork in the trailer is very conventional to the horror genre as it is used to further convey the tension in the scenes. For example, During the scene where the woman is in the water an over shoulder is used of her looking at the land where we see Jason Voorhees watching her. This is done to make it look like that we are there with her. This unsettles the audience as it makes us feel like Jason is staring directly into our eyes planning to kill us. In addition, Handheld Shaky camera is used in this scene to simulate the effect of being in the water as it is bobbing up and down. However, this could also be used to make the audience feel trapped as like the girl we are in the water separated from the land by a relentless killer conveying how helpless we are.

Low angle shot of Jason

Also, in another scene a slight low angle shot is used to make Jason look strong and superior than us as if he was looking down on us. This was done to show the audience how much of a threat Jason is being the more powerful than of the other characters in the scene. This makes the audience feel weak and inferior just like the characters in the scene who have no chance of physically outmatching on Jason. Because of this the audience will also become more scarred of Jason seeing as being invulnerable.

Jason stands over his next victim

A two shot is also used later on in the trailer to further convey how strong Jason is. This is shown in the shower scene where one of his victims looks behind the shower curtains to see if she is safe but when she fully opens the curtains we see Jason towering over her while the girl gives a sigh of relief thinking she is safe only for it to cut away just before Jason grabs her. This is done to terrify audiences as they know what is going to happen next, we also feel sympathy towards the girl because she believes that she is safe however we know that's not true and we are powerless to do anything further making the audience feel inferior to Jason.

Jason's shadow covers the woman

Almost immediately after this we see a slight high angle shot on a woman with Jason's shadow standing over her and we can tell that it's his shadow as we see a sharp object resembling a machete (Jason's signature weapon) in the figures hands. A high angle shot is used to make the woman look weak and powerless as she is in a lower state than Jason so he is looking down on her which heavily implies that she is going to be killed. Furthermore, by looking at the girls facial expressions we see that she is petrified of Jason fearing that he will kill her. We also see that she looking directly at Jason and by extension the audience as if she is begging for help. This makes the audience feel sympathetic for her as we are useless as nothing we can do could save her.

Extreme Close-up

Another use of camerawork that I can see is the use of an extreme close-up. This can be seen late in the trailer when one of the teenagers shines a torch on a child's bed with the name Jason engraved on it the camera closes in on his name to emphasise that this bed belongs to Jason Voorhees the antagonist of the film. This will immediately be recognised by fans if the series who will recognise its importance as it shares as small amount of insight on Jason's back story (grew up at the camp sight). Furthermore, if some of the audience don't realise the the connection they will acknowledge that this bed is important in some way which will make them speculate the mystery surrounding this bed as it wouldn't be placed into the focused on in the trailer if it had no importancy. 

Editing

Jason cuts the power to the house

Shot Reverse Shot

By looking at the trailer I can clearly see that fast paced editing has been used to make the trailer look more intense and action packed as everything is going by so quickly that you could miss something if you weren't paying attention this make the audience become more interested in the trailer as they want to try to see all of the small details that go by in a flash. Another thing that I noticed about the editing within the trailer is that many jump and straight cuts are used in quick succession of each other throughout the trailer especially in the latter part of the trailer when Jason is hunting his victims down. This can be seen when the power is cut in the house as many straight cuts are used going to different parts of the house showing everyone's reaction. This was done so that we could see the facial expressions of all the people in the home which range from slight confusion (the woman wearing the white shirt) to completely terrified (the next woman to appear after the white shirt one). This intern makes the audience panic as well as that just by shutting the power off Jason managed to scare many people conveying how powerful he his. Another piece of editing that shows the people are scared appears near the start of the trailer when the girl is swimming in the water a shot reverse shot is used of her seeing Jason cutting back to her reaction and back to Jason staring directly at her. When we see her face we can also see her facial expressions and unlike when Jason cut the power we can clearly see that she is petrified as she opens her mouth to scream and starts shaking in the water as if she was trying to swim away but was paralysed by fear. This makes the audience become terrified as well as we are given no choice but to wait for Jason to kill her. During this Shot reverse shot we see a long shot on Jason as he appears from behind a tree and stares at the girl in the lake we also see this as an over the shoulder shot from the girls perspective which makes Jason appear as a mysterious figure as we can't make him out straight away only when he is standing still we can finally see Jason this is very conventional of the horror genre having the antagonist at first appear as a mysterious figure so that he remains unknown to both the audience and the characters in the trailer so that when he is first revealed it's a surprise to all of us.

Mise-en-scene

The forest at night

Mise-en-scene is used in a variety of ways in the trailer. Firstly the setting of the trailer is Camp Crystal Lake which is located in a heavily forested area. This is conventional of the horror genre as they are usually set in isolated areas where the protagonists will be unable to get any help trying to escape. Furthermore, I believe that a forest was also used to make the protagonists feel weaker as during night time which can be seen in the trailer the trees look like tall, dark, shadowy figures and they are everywhere as if they are watching every move the protagonists make. In addition the costumes in the trailer show us that Jason is above everyone in terms of power. This can be seen when he kills one of his victims who just so happens to be a police officer which can be seen because of he is wearing his uniform. This shows Jason as being very powerful because he catches the officer of guard and kills him with a single strike which could imply that Jason is above the law and more importantly above justice itself. This may also be a reference to stereotypical police in horror films as they are usually immediately killed not long after they first appear as they don't believe that the threat is as dangerous as the protagonists say they are leading them to not arming themselves which ultimately leads to their death. 

Sound

The sound within the trailer is used to create fear and tension especially during clips with Jason in them so that the audience because increasingly nervous throughout the trailer as they are cautious of when Jason will appear again. Sound conveys this through the use of dialogue as whenever Jason is near we hear an ominous voice that says "ki ki ki ma ma ma" While this may just sound like demonic chanting which is common in many horror films it's actually Jason saying "kill kill kill mama mama mama" which can be interpreted as "Kill for mother" which is a common phrase in the Friday the 13th films as it explains why Jason is a killer. This dialogue is also commonly used in combination with an ambient silence which is done to further build up suspense so that the audience braces themselves as they are going to be scared.  Also, later in the trailer we another sound effect that is used to create suspense is the sound of a heart beating. This was done because when a person goes into a state of panic their  heart will start beating quicker which causes it to make a loud beating sound. This was used in the trailer for that reason as it make the audience think that their listening to their own heart which makes them start panicking.

Audience effects

As I have previously stated the main effect that the trailer has on the audience is to terrify them which it does by using an eerie soundtrack which creates an ominous atmosphere which makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they brace themselves as it could lead to a sting and by extension a jump scare. The trailer also tries to make Jason Voorhees appear as threatening as possible by using a variety of camera shots to make him look like an omnipotent force showing the protagonists fear and terror just from looking at him from a distant and creating a montage of him mercilessly slaughtering everyone that he can find.

Effects on tension/suspense

The trailer perfectly create tension and suspense throughout in a variety of ways so that the audience remains interested. This can be seen by using a human heart beating to make audiences panic, have Jason's signature chant occur whenever he is nearby his next victim. Also many of the shots take place during the night which limits both the protagonists and the audiences field of view making us fear what is going to happen next.

Inspirations

After analysing the trailer I have selected several conventions that I believe could be used for my groups film trailer. One of these conventions is having the antagonist first appear as a mysterious figure which can be developed to create a fear of the unknown effect as no one will be truly aware of who is killing them until it is all to late. Furthermore if my group is having hard times deciding on what the antagonist will look like we can use the mysterious figure to buy sometime why will come of up with their design. Another convention that I will be taking from the trailer is the shot reverse shot showing the characters reaction as it will be great for the antagonists full reveal as it will show the audience how terrified the protagonists are intern scaring the audience.