Selfie from hell

I came across this video on YouTube and thought it would be good to take inspiration from to ensure our trailer comes across as a psychological horror.



Even though we as an audience aren't told which genre this short film is, we can identify that it is a horror from the start as tension is built up from the beginning through the use of lighting, sound and setting:

• The lighting is very low key throughout with the use of artificial lighting to make it seem eerie for the audience and to also create shadows which portray enigma for the audience. Low key lighting is something my group and I need to use in our trailer as it is iconic to the horror genre. We will also consider using artificial lighting like this short film as we want a similar mood to be created such as a threatening and frighting mood for the audience. 

• The setting is iconic to a psychological horror as it is in a normal, everyday location which creates suspense as soon as the antagonist is shown. This enables the audience to relate to the girl as she is in her home alone and the audience as are probably watching this short film from their own home which creates a tense atmosphere as they will think it could happen to them. Therefore, for our audience to relate to our film and be intrigued by it, we need to ensure that the house we decide to film from is relate-able for our audience to make them feel frightened, for example it can't be too modern or old-fashioned as our target audience will most likely be living at home with parents and they will probably have house interior which is quite neutral.

• Non-diegetic sound is only used when the disruption begins to show fear of the character which builds tension for the audience. Sound is a very important convention of a psychological horror because without the sound, this short movie wouldn't have been frightening for the audience as it wouldn't have created dramatic scenes or portrayed a disruption. We need to consider using sharp piercing and contrapuntal sounds in our trailer, for example, we could include them if we include a shot of the antagonist appearing outside the window to shock both the characters and audience. 

• I like the idea of the antagonist being shown on the picture on the phone and not in the actual shot as this creates suspense for the audience as they don't know why this is happening and where he is. Therefore, this is an idea my group and I could consider using as we want the audience to get a fast adrenaline rush to create tension from the very beginning by using enigma throughout the trailer.

• Also, as the female character is portrayed in a sexual way, through the use of costume, make-up and high angle camera shots. This makes her look more vulnerable so therefore the audience assume something bad is going to happen to her. As I will be researching potential costumes for our characters, we want our protagonist to be portrayed sexually so therefore costume will play a huge part when portraying her like this- i  could consider dressing my female protagonist in reveling clothing like this character to appeal to our male audience.