Narrative For My Film Trailer

Narrative

I have chosen to do a film trailer as part of my coursework. I have decided to do it on the horror genre of film, in particular Psychological horror. This type of horror focuses more on what's not shown on screen rather than what is shown on screen. For example a group walk into a creepy, dingy looking room and suddenly the lights go out and someone screams. This type of scene wont show anything particularly scary on screen but with still produce an element of fear from the viewer. In other words, it relates to the viewers 'Fear Of the Unknown'.

I want the story of the trailer to focus on a teenage girl. This is because i feel as though it will link to the theorist Laura Mulveys ideas that are commonly shown in horror. I want the girl to be portrayed as being defenseless, unable to stand up for herself. I then decided that i wanted the story-line to be similar to this;

"The main character is a privileged teenage girl, who has been brought up with almost anything she wants. When her and her friends take part in a similar activity to a ouiji board, she gets freaked out and decides not to continue. A few days after she begins to realise that something isn't right, she feels as though someone, or something is watching her. The story will unfold so that the girl is haunted, and no one will believe her." 

 I want the trailer to make the viewers feel as though they are the girl who's being haunted. Snippets of a scary image will flick across the screen. This is a common feature of psychological horror trailers and will heighten the sense of panic featured in the trailer. I also want the trailer to begin at a slow pace, introducing the character and scene, i want it to start with an upbeat feel. To do this i will perhaps have the tune of a guitar in the background playing an upbeat sound (as string instruments are common for psychological trailers). In addition i want it to focus on the girls life before, how everything seems perfect, so that the change after the game her and her friends play is dramatic. As the clip of the girls playing the game is on screen i think it would be good to have the guitar tune change to something similar to a heartbeat. This will indicate to the viewer that they are anticipating something sinister to happen. I want the second half of the trailer to be dark and a complete contrast to the first half. Again this is to define the change in the girls life. Also, i want this half to be fast paced so that it appears and dramatic. I want the end of the trailer to make the viewer jump, as after watching other trailers i feel that ones that feature something similar to this have a lasting impact on the viewer.