top of page
Made by: Olek Nowacki
PRIMARY RESEARCH
For my Primary Research, I decided to create a multiple choice form to gain some feedback about what exactly the viewers would want to see in my teaser trailer.
The results of the form can be seen below.
Note: I have originally created a paper farm that people answered and I have transferred the answer onto Wix.
Human Centipede image:The human centipede (first sequence) (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Centipede_(First_Sequence) (Accessed: 12 March 2024).
Mrs Darcy Font: Mr Darcy from Insigne design (no date) Mr Darcy | Adobe Fonts. Available at: https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/mr-darcy (Accessed: 12 March 2024).
Slender Man font image: The slender man wiki (no date) Fandom. Available at: https://theslenderman.fandom.com/wiki/The_Slender_Man_Wiki?file=Slender_Man_%28official_movie_logo%29.jpg (Accessed: 12 March 2024).
For the first question, I wanted to see if people would be able to choose a better title, as it was pointed out that the title "He's Here" does not really sound good or intimidating. Between the 3 choices that the people were offered, the option with the most amount of votes was "Lost Broadcast", which makes sense as whilst looking at the theme of my teaser trailer and the titles, Lost Broadcast sounds more appropriate as the main antagonist will be related to television.
For the second question, I wondered if the news reporter who will be featured in the teaser trailer should wear a classic suit or some other piece of clothing. For this question, many people voted for the news reporter to wear a classic suit, which in practise makes sense, as often people who want to present themselves wear clothing that makes them look professional.
For the final question of the form, I was confused with what type of font I should use. I had 3 potentially fonts I wanted to use, 2 of them being from movies that have came out and 1 being a font that can be found on adobe fonts. Between those 3 fonts, the Slenderman movie font (also known as Knockout No.66) had the most votes, potentially due to its simple design.
PODCAST
To continue my primary research, I have done a podcast with 3 of my peers and we all asked each other questions related to our FMPs. For this podcast, we started off with me asking 4 questions related to horror movie teaser trailers and normal trailers.
Those questions were:
What is the most common trend in horror movie teaser trailers?
What do you like and dislike in them?
Should the antagonist of the teaser be silent?
Can mysteries be scary?
The Podcast
Question 1
For the first question, I have asked the podcasts members the question of what is, in their opinion, the most common trend in horror movie teaser trailers. From the first response that I have gathered, suspense and the jump scares are one of the most used trends. They are usually used after one another, with the jump scare happening after the suspense. Hearing the podcast again, I understand why this is an important trend, as ending a teaser trailer with a major suspense and not some sort of plot twist in the end would result in the suspense being made for nothing. This is why I feel like putting suspense with a jump scare happening afterwards might be a positive factor, as a minor jump scare might catch people off guard and potentially leave them vulnerable to a bigger jump scare.
The second member of the podcast agreed with the first member of the podcast, however, he included the fact that movie teaser trailers always showcase some sort of date, either the full release date or a time frame. This also makes sense since putting a release date or the time frame of when the full trailer or movie releases does increase the movies anticipation.
The third podcast member, says how the music build up is another common trend in horror teaser trailers and movies, as music build up is a good way to lead the audience to a jump scare or to the end of the trailer. Furthermore, the music building up would result in the trailer being slightly more tense, as the audience would not know when the music stops. I could utilise this by potentially having a music slowly fade away, before being replaced by a different soundtrack which would eventually be instantly cut off.
Question 2
For the second question, both the first and second member of the podcast stated that they dislike cheap jump scares and overdone jump scares. For example, by stating they dislike cheap jump scares, they mean jump scares that are not really of high quality or a good build up and by overdone jump scares, they mean jump scares that are constantly being thrown at the audience. I can understand both of these points, as being constantly jump scared without major breaks would result in the audience no longer being terrified of them.
The third member of the podcast stated that he dislikes the specific type of music that is used in trailers. This would mean that I would have to find music which is the most appropriate for a horror trailer, such as a music that is either fully scary or music that is calm but yet slightly unsettling.
For the second part of the question, the first podcast member stated that he likes the choreography in horror teaser trailers, which means that he enjoys either fluent or perfectly timed movement. They could also be stating that movement that feels natural to the environment usually makes movies better. This would mean I would have to research the behaviours people do whenever they enter a specific environment, which should not really be a difficult task to do as I would have to find videos of people in said environments for the best results.
The second podcast member mentioned how being mysterious does actually make him like horror teaser trailers. A job of a trailer is to tease the audience to watch the full movie by showing some clips of the movie and saying what happened before the movie takes place. This means that if I were to include what has happened prier to the movie in the trailer, then theoretically, if the movie was truly coming out then the audience would watch it.
Question 3
For the third question, there were some mixed responses between the first and the second podcast member, Although the second podcast member disagreed that the antagonist should stay silent, he did not really provide me a good reason to why that should not be the case. However, the third podcast member agreed that the antagonist in the teaser trailer should be silent, as that would result in the antagonist drawing the audience's attention.
Question 4
For the final question, from all three podcast members, I get the impression that having some sort of mystery would be beneficial for the teaser trailer, as revealing the antagonist's motive or any of their attributes would result in the character being either predictable or unthreatening.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
For my secondary research, I decided to go and find some horror teaser trailers that were uploaded onto YouTube to watch and see what exactly is used in what way.
This trailer was made for the movie "CARRIE", which was directed by Kimberly Pierce and was fully released on 18th October 2013. The movie and the trailer both belong in the horror genre, specifically the "supernatural" horror genre. Whilst the teaser trailer is 58 seconds long, the total runtime of the movie itself is around 1 hour and 40 minutes. The movie is rated as for 15 year olds in the United Kingdom, due to the movie having an immense amount of gory scenes
and a moderate amount of frightening and intense scenes. The trailer utilises a mix of dark colours, red and yellow colours to present the dark, ominous and frightening atmosphere, as the colours red and black to often represent blood, which also highlights the gore that will be present in the full movie. It appears as though in the trailer, the footage is being recorded.
The thing that I find the most interesting about this teaser trailer for this movie, is the use of a singular continuous shot, being interrupted by text that either state who created the teaser trailer, what is it based off and when exactly it is coming out.
Source: Carrie - official teaser trailer - in theaters 10/18/13 (2012) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLLsrZwJrBk (Accessed: 11 March 2024).
Source: Carrie (2013 film) (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(2013_film) (Accessed: 21 March 2024).
Source: Carrie (2013) IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1939659/ (Accessed: 21 March 2024).
The "Five Nights at Freddy's" movie is a supernatural horror movie, directed by Emma Tammi and Scott Cawthon. The movie was released on 27th of April 2023 and tried to target the audience who were already well known with the series. The movie (which is often referred to as the FNAF movie) is also categorised in the thriller and mystery genre. The movie's target audience demographic appears to be 15 year-olds, as the movie consists of some mild scenes, such as someone getting eaten in half by an animatronic, whilst someone else gets "springlocked" by an animatronic suit.
For the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie teaser trailer, the one thing that I will take massive inspiration from is the TV screen effect that is used in some of the scenes to represent that the footage was taken from years ago, back when there were those thin lines which obscured some of the screen. This is crucial to be included into my teaser trailer, as I have to make the footage in the trailer look as believable as it could be, as old footage does not have the quality of videos that were made during the modern period.
Source: Five Nights at Freddy’s | official teaser (2023) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-zqS2CiZqw (Accessed: 11 March 2024).
Source: Five Nights at Freddy’s (film) (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Nights_at_Freddy%27s_(film) (Accessed: 21 March 2024).
Source: Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4589218/ (Accessed: 21 March 2024).
This teaser trailer is for "The Nun" movie, which came out on September 27th, 2018, is a gothic supernatural horror movie, which directed by Corin Hardy. The movie has a total runtime of 1 hour and 36 minutes and has a target audience of 16, as the movie contains scenes of self harm, sounds of people's bones being crushed and dying. The teaser trailer contains a soundtrack which could be considered music, as it does have people singing in it, but only with 2 notes. Furthermore, the soundtrack has the singers sing in a cultist manner, which is fitting since a group of people praying to a specific high entity are often referred to as a cult. The trailer also utilises a subgenre of solace, as the main character appears to be most comfortable in a church, which makes sense for the movie and the trailer to take place there.
The teaser trailer for "The Nun" utilises something that some movies still use to this day, that being fake out jump scares. Fake out jump scares can be interoperated in two ways. The first way is that fake out jump scares are jump scares that happen after a short delay of something happening or someone appearing. Another form of a fake out jump scare is being jump scared by someone completely different that wasn't present in the current scene. Jump scares are the most important detail in horror teaser trailers if used correctly. Making sure that jump scares appear as much but as much would often result in a positive outcome of people being surprisingly scared, which is what my teaser trailer is trying to aim at the end.
Source: The nun - official teaser trailer [HD] (2018) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzD9zGcUNrw (Accessed: 12 March 2024).
Source: The nun (2018 film) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nun_(2018_film) (Accessed: 21 March 2024).
Source: How nuns became the center of horror hottest subgenre (no date) IMDb. Available at: https://m.imdb.com/news/ni64499646/?ref_=nwc_art_plk (Accessed: 22 March 2024).
This trailer may not be for a movie, but rather a game called "Little Nightmares 2," a game which was developed by Tarsier Studios and published by Bandi Namco Entertainment. This game belongs in the horror genre, specifically the "survival horror" genre, as in this game, there are occasions were you are in environments which are homes to multiple disturbing enemies. Furthermore, the game contains disturbing imagery, such as dead corpses being trapped in a hunting net, many deformed corpses and limbs with life's of their own and some glimpses to suicide, which results in the game targeting the age demographic of 16 year-olds. The trailer's music consist of mostly children singing and a wound-up music box playing, which is possibly used because the main characters of the game are children themselves, as music boxes are usually compared with children. The atmosphere of the trailer seems to be constantly gloomy, lacking any eye catching or colourful colours, possibly to tell the audience that the world that those two characters are in is not meant to be a happy and cheerful world.
​
Although this trailer may not be for a movie, it does serve as my main inspiration for my teaser trailers. The trailer contains the entity which is referred to as "The Thin Man" or "Mono", who serves as the main inspiration for the mysterious antagonist of my teaser trailer, "Lost Broadcast", as both characters will wear suits and both of them have their identities concealed by a black silhouette.
Source: Little nightmares II (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nightmares_II (Accessed: 22 March 2024).
Source: Little nightmares II (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nightmares_II (Accessed: 22 March 2024).
Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, is the 5th instalment to the Nightmare on Elm Street saga, directed by Stephen Hopkins. The movie was released on August 11th, 1989. with a total runtime of around 1 hour and 29 minutes, with the theatrical trailer lasting for 45 seconds. The movie is referred to as a "gothic slasher film", mostly due to the fact that the main antagonist of the movie is a dream entity/supernatural being that hunts and kills his victims in his dreams, whilst chasing them with his glove, which is also equipped with 5 sharp knifes. In the trailer, the camera continuously follows the stroller, possibly to make the audience to not focus on the environment, which was already covered by the fog. The camera also changes perspective when the footage fades out to a different footage, possibly because it was impossible for the camera crew to rotate the camera, without moving the stroller. The music of the teaser trailers appears to sound like a "Happy Birthday" song, which may serve as the indicators to the audience that Freddy Krueger is "reborn." For the entirety of the footage, the environment is covered by a dark colour, which is often connected to a melancholic mood. At the end of the trailer, there is a moment where during the reveal of the title for the movie, Freddy Krueger reveals his voice, which can also serve as a indication that he has returned. It is also important to note that this teaser trailer was at first a "theatrical trailer." The difference between a theatrical trailer and a teaser trailer, is that teaser trailers can be found on YouTube and other platforms, whilst theatrical trailers are trailers which only played in cinemas, which meant that whenever there was an ad before the official movie started, the Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child played during that time period.
The inspiration that I am taking from this trailer cannot really be considered an inspiration, but rather using the idea in a different way. Having some sort of dialogue at the end of the teaser appears to be a good way to add some more mystery, or to remove the mystery and give some context.
Source: A Nightmare on elm street: The dream child (no date) IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097981/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Source: Young, R. (2018) Colour (symbolic code), Medium. Available at: https://media.codes/colour-symbolic-code-c1af9a09fde8 (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
This video, which was uploaded by a content creator called "WWAB" on October 20th, 2020, is a simple 6 second short video of the classic "Please Stand By" screen, which was often played in old television whenever a broadcast had to momentarily be taken off air. I consider creating something similar and insert it at the end of my teaser trailer, as a way to reveal the title of my made up movie.
Source: Please stand by | sound effect (2020) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak9pafQR9Jg&ab_channel=WWAB (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Furthermore, I am also taking the same inspiration from the video that contains this image. The video in question was released on March 23rd, 2024, which was created by Luke Lerdwichagul. However, the inspiration that I am taking from this "Please Stand By" screen in particular, is the colour of it, the text being in a box at the centre of the screen, and the logo of the company who are behind the creation of this screen.
Source: Please stand by | sound effect (2020) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak9pafQR9Jg&ab_channel=WWAB (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Source: Mario’s mysteries (2024) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HQ1bICw6tc&ab_channel=SMG4 (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Source: Wiki, C. to T.S. (no date) SMG4 (channel), The SMG4/GLITCH Wiki. Available at: https://supermarioglitchy4.fandom.com/wiki/SMG4_(channel) (Accessed: 23 March 2024).
Source: What Lighting Fixtures Can We Use to Set Up a TV Studio Room? (20201 YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om37gG1yeZk(Accessed: 23 March 2024).
This video, which was uploaded on YouTube on June 16th, 2021 by a content creator called "THE ONE STUDIO." The video is a 22 second clip of a studio and how their spotlights are being set up, such as at what angle the spotlights are set it and the direction they are looking at.
The inspiration from this video that I am taking is the way to set up the lights, as although in the studio there is not a lot of lights, this video could still help me understand how exactly I could position the lights.
This image from Pinterest has the exact idea of what I want one of the characters present in my teaser trailer to look like, a tall figure wearing a suit and a black fedora. Although this image is almost exactly how I image the main antagonist of the teaser trailer to look like, it is missing some components which I will have to create myself, such as removing the gloves, getting a tie that is a singular colour and covering the face with a pitch black colour.
The inspiration from this image is something I am considering doing in my teaser trailer, that being a light shining directly downwards towards a singular object, in that case a vintage TV. This would allow me to indicate the viewers to what exactly they should pay attention to. Furthermore, having only a singular light lighting a singular spot would conceal the room's environment, meaning that I would not have to necessarily create any additional background details.
For these images, I am planning to take the concepts of both of these images and combine them into one idea. The idea is to have an a black silhouette inside of the TV screen, before transitioning to the silhouette having their hand on the TV screen. The reason I am combining both of these inspirations together, is because both images contain half of what I imagine will be present in my Final Major Project.
For this image, I am taking away the idea of the TV screen footage looking old and a bit yellow. Giving this effect to my footage would make it look like it was recorded during the times where television was still developing. Furthermore, it would also signal the viewers that the events that will be talked about in the footage have transpired years ago, before the movie takes place.
Source: Dave Michaels Last KABC-TV Newscast - 1975 (20201 YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFVObXTbxgQ&list=PLDF-8KXOy244BpYJNxz3kwGmMdocRBksH&index=46(Accessed: 30 April 2024).
This video, which was uploaded on 23th of August 1014, is a video featuring a footage from a old news broadcast, possibly from the 1990's. The main inspiration that I am trying to take from this video is the backgrounds that is used. Usually, news broadcast in the modern period often have a clean, futuristic-ish background. However, due to technology limitations, news broadcasts did have high quality backgrounds. Furthermore, old backgrounds appear to have contained a singular colour, which was blue, which was potentially used as a way to indicate the viewers that this is a news report, as the colour blue is often connected to a news report.
HORROR HISTORY
Horror movies throughout constantly changed their approaches to get people to watch their movies. The way directors their trailers is much more different from how they are made today. Although some of those aspects did carry over to our period, they are not as used as they previous were.
During the early productions of movies, because digital entertainment was still a new phenomenon, movies and TV shows did not have hyper edits or did they have any colours. During the early days of movie making, movie trailer producers would combine movie clips together and have a narrator narrate about what the movie is about, in either a standard voice or a creepy voice, often even describing the characters featured in the movie.
Later on, a movie director by the name of Alfred Hitchcock introduced the concept of showing the audience the set and teasing them about what exactly happens in the movie, without revealing any major details. For example, during the preparations for the release of the movie "Psycho", Hitchcock did a long tour of the movie set, explaining how important some of the set pieces were, before ending the tour by revealing the girl who screams in the shower.
After years of making movies, movie produces introduced a new method of promoting their movies, which from the current perspective, did not really look well. Instead of trying to make the trailers high quality, they instead had low quality, with text being transitioned in via flying and the movie taglines being constantly said. It was a rule back then during that time period to mention the name of the movie around 12 times maximum. Lastly, the one tactic that was also done during that time period, was using a tagline before the title of the movie appeared for the final time. This can be seen as a frustrating time period for movies, as being constantly reminded about the movie might sound as a good idea in practise, but in execution, it would make the audience not want to watch the movie at all, because they constantly heard the name of the movie.
Afterwards, the approach to creating changed completely with the creation of the first Alien movie in 1976, where the trailer did not have any dialogue, but rather an ominous sound track which constantly played through the entirety of the trailer. This started the trend of hyper active montages which would eventually make the movies look better than they would normally be. Those trailers would often result in movies back then to be "overhyped" and the audience to be disappointed with the movie once it came out.
Eventually, horror movie trailers started to utilise the feature of "jump scares", which are scares that happen when the audience (or the main character of the movie/trailer) least expect it. This can be debated to be the best gimmick in trailers, teasers and movies as the most common fear in people is the fear of the unknown, meaning that if you do not know when a jumps care will occur, you will be more scared of it.
TITLE GRAPHICS
Occasionally, whenever a horror teaser trailer or the movie itself is produced, the designers often use a different type of font or title design so that the title matches with the movie/teaser trailer.
An good example of a unique title graphic is the title at the end of the 'Thanksgiving' movie poster. In this picture, although the text looks pretty normal, the person who made the poster edited the title to match the theme of the movie. As being shown, the letter 'K' in the title has 1/4 of itself cut off and another 1/4 of itself extended and sharpened. Upon a closer inspection, this change to the letter 'K' is meant to represent a knife being put into the letter. The reasoning for making the 'K' looking like it was impaled by the knife is to possibly match the theme of Thanksgiving, as knifes are normally used whenever a turkey or a different meal is being cut in half.
Another good example of a unique style being used in a title is the title for the Friday the 13th Part 3 3D. For this title, the title goes from an 2 dimensional style to a 3 dimensional style, as the letters are extended slightly backwards, possibly to emphasise the idea that the movie can be viewed with 3D glasses. In addition, the texture of the title appears to be made out of wood, as the title appears to contain textures that are normally seen inside of trees without their outer shell. This style choice is used to tell the audience that the movie will take place in the woods and/or a campsite in a forest. Lastly, the letter 'R' contains the sharp part of a machete, which is then impaled onto the letter 'D', with the sharp part of the machete dripping with blood. This is meant to also inform the audience that blood and/or gore will be featured in the movie, including deaths. In addition, this can serve as a confirmation that the killer, Jason Voorhees, is returning to continue his killings in this movie, as a machete is his icon weapon of choice to use whenever he is murdering his victims.
The theme that I am seeing with these titles is that they all fit the environment and themes that are present in the movies. This results in people knowing what the movie is about, as the audience have to look at the title of the movie and see how exactly it looks.
Each of these posters has a unique design to them that makes them stand out from other teaser trailer posters.
SOUND GRAPHICS
In both media and films, music and sound is the most crucial part of the development process. In horror movies specifically, there are multiple instances where music and sound effects are used in tandem with each other.
Orchestral Music (as the name suggests) is the music that is performed with instruments such as brasses, trumpets, flutes, pianos and accordions. Those type of instruments create an atmosphere which can be viewed as ominous to the viewer. Orchestral music is often used in teaser trailers and movies where they are set in a timeline where electronics were not yet properly invented.
Source: Creepy choir music (2016) YouTube. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FRMWSraCfY&t=1s(youtube.com) (Accessed: 20 April 2024).
Choral Music is a type of music which is being sung by a choir. Usually in choral music, the singers would often sing all at once with the same tone that is constantly changing. However, occasionally in choirs there will be instances where the members of the choir will join in after the singing has already started.
Source: ♩♫ Epic Horror Synth Trailer Music ♪♬ - Something Wicked (Copyright and Royalty Free) (2016) YouTube. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuw_O5MU5CE (youtube.com) (Accessed: 20 April 2024).
Alternatively, horror movies and trailers may use 'Synthesizers and electronic music.' Unlike orchestral music, electronic music is created by using electronic instruments, such as electronic guitars and electronic pianos. Occasionally, the music that is being produced is being created digitally. Those are normally used in modern movies, mostly because they fit the timeline that the movie is taking place in.
Source: Thump Sound Effects (2022) YouTube. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wYeNjhfEb0youtube.com) (Accessed: 20 April 2024).
Sound effects are seen all over media and films. Sound effects are sounds which can be heard whenever something is happening on screen or off screen. For example, if someone was to break into a house through a window off screen and a sound of glass breaking is heard, that is considered a sound effect. Those effects are used to give actions a bigger impact, as during recordings those sound effects may be lacking in quality.
bottom of page