Directors of the Horror Genre

My favourite film director is James Wan. He has directed films such as Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious, The Conjuring. Wan explains how different Insidious 2 is to any other horror film.

He explains, “Whereas the first movie has a twist on the classic haunted house genre, the second one is a slightly different movie and so it has a twist on a different sub-genre, It’s more in the vein of like a domestic thriller, but with a pervasive supernatural undertone, which is kind of what The Shining is in some ways.When I was designing some of the scares for Insidious and my previous scary movie that I shot, one of the things I would do is literally walk through my house late at night with all the lights out and think up these really trippy, creepy scenarios and if I get really creeped out then I know it’s working,”

He tells us that the film plays with time travel in a way that no other horror film has done. He thinks that this is a great turn in the horror genre and reveals something new to his audience that they have never seen before to give them a new element of surprise. When i went to see Insidious 2 I came out of the cinema saying it was one of the best two films i had ever seen. The second film creates much more suspense for the viewer and plays with a lot more aspects of horror than ever before. The film uses time travel to twist the story for extra viewing pleasure as it surprises the audience as its something they have rarely seen before in the horror genre.
Personally I think Insidious Chapter 2 is the best horror trailer I have ever seen. This is because it features all the elements it should to create a scary and powerful horror trailer.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is one of the best film directors and producers of all time. "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of the bang" is a quote from Hitchcock himself. In this quote he explains that there is no terror in just placing a frightening noise or a scream to scare the audience but the anticipation up to the loud noise or bang is what really makes it scary for the viewer. I think this is a technique that is not used effectively in modern society and is what is missing from modern day horror.

History of Film Trailers

During my research and planning I looked into some of the first ever film trailers. Although i am unsure to which was the first one I have watched many that date back to the very early 70's, 80's and 90's. However, 'Nosferatu' which was made in 1922 was the earliest film trailer i could find. Although this film trailer may not scare viewers today, when it was made i am sure that viewers were very sceptical about what they were viewing .This is because it creates suspense for the viewer through the images shown and the eiry music throughout the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-DrKgjit4I

Halloween was the next film trailer i focused on which was made in 1978. This trailer is a lot more advanced than 'Nosferuta'. Firstly this trailer is in colour where as 'Nosferuta' was filmed in black and white. Halloween also features a voice over at the beginning of the trailer which helps to set the mood for the viewer and slightly explains what is going to happen as well as using speech from characters throughout the trailer. The trailer is cleverly filmed through a point of view shot and at the beginning of the trailer where it is clear we are looking through the villains eye's. This is interesting to the viewer as it may be a technique they have never seen before which may intrigue them. This also shows a great shift in film technology and starts to show the future of the film industry and how it is starting to develop rapidly. The trailer is also longer than 'Nosferuta' which shows that film makers are beginning to understand the importance of a film trailer and what it can mean to the viewer to want to watch the film. Halloween also has more of a narrative which intrigues the viewer in to watching the film as they understand a bit more of the storyline. The music is also played over the trailer at the right times during the trailer and not the whole way through. This shows that the director is understanding how effective the music is if it is played at moments in the trailer when something interesting is going to happen to create suspense. The only criticism that i would give the director is that the lighting is very dark. Whether this is intentional or not i do not think that at this stage of film making the mise en scene such as lighting and props is necessarily essential to the making of the trailer. A reason for this is because technology is not fully developed through film making and directors are not fully aware of all the elements that make an excellent film trailer. These trailers are the start of developing tropes that will rapidly develop in to meme in horror trailers and films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SFmmROBUto