Narrative ideas

We've decided on the sub-genre of psychological horror.
Linking to recent stories in the news (e.g. Jon Venables) and societies views in genral, we'd like to follow the route of child evil.

This film includes the theme of child evil:

Deconstruction of "The Unborn"

The trailer starts straight away with playing on the audience fears by using an establishing shot of an isolated house. It then shows, what seems to be, the protagonist on her own in the house at night. The use of dark lighting emphasises the fear of the unknown to the viewers and keeps them attached to the screen. The whispering also makes the viewer more aware of what is around them. It plays on the fear of vulnerability and again the unknown. Isolation causes awareness of loneliness. The over the shoulder shot also creates fear of moving around surrounded by nothing. This creates a tense and unknowing atmosphere for the audience filling its potential of a psychological horror trailer.

The sudden tense music quickly alerts the viewer that something shocking is soon going to happen. It also tells the audience that a part of the narrative is about to be revealed. The establishing shot of the city and the protagonist jogging through the woods shows the viewer an element of her 'normal' life, many horror trailers do this after a sudden event to help build the narrative and to show more development of the characters. The shot of her in the shower with her back to the camera and potentially (in the film) the rest of the world, creates and evokes the fear of the unknown.

The use of dialogue in the trailer helps unfold the narrative. "What happened to your eye?" suggests to the viewer that an event\ the narrative will develop from this. It also divides the dramatic music within the trailer. The shot of the little boy which then fades creates confusion for the viewer. It also shows an element of the supernatural which immediately alerts the viewer as it is clearer not natural. The use of fading to black clearly divides each scene showing the viewer a different location and speeds up the narrative.

The sudden change in music and location (the graveyard) warns the viewer that the mood is going to change and more elements of a horror film are going to appear. The flashing images and the high pitch music leaves the viewer anticipating that something eg the pace of the trailer might change. In this trailer the pace slows down and the music become calmer but more tense. The camera angle turning her upside down then seeing herself below her is a very shocking but effective image for the viewer. It has connotations that she is stuck in a different world which is made very clear to the viewer. The extraction of the diegetic sound causes a great effect. It shows the protagonist struggling then the sudden presence of the little boy. This highlights the fear of the evil child.

The credits start as more of the evil child is shown. This increases the pace and creates a cold feel as the writing is on a dirty-white background with black writing which shows a great contrast and stands out for the viewer. The pace then immediately becomes much faster and the flashing images/clips make it clear that the film is shocking. The trailer seems to show the scarier parts of the film towards the end to both shock the viewer and so suspense could be built upon. There is then one last short clip after the title. This leaves the viewer shocked and shaken from the trailer, informing them what type of film it will be.

NC