DAVID BUCKINGHAM (1993)
Genre is not... simply given by the culture: rather it is in a constant process of negotiation and change.This relates to my trailer as the horror genre has changed dramatically over time, keeping up with what people accept and will take in, which has become broader as they have been exposed to more and more over time - eg wars. I had to create my trailer to comply with this so that the audience would understand it to be a horror and would be drawn to it. I could not have done a film similar to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) as people would not be scared by the themes.
ROBERT STAM (2000)
Suggests genres are based on certain aspects relating to that genre, or where it stems from to create a typical portrayal.Cetain aspects had to be included in my horror trailer in order for it to be noticed as a horror. For example, I had to included recognisabe elements such as screams, sound effects, blood and a night time setting for it to be clearly seen as a typical horror.
McQUAIL (1987)
Genre is set so that the text produced matched the expectations of its audience and to go along with its production.I had to create my trailer based on what I had seen in existing, recent horror trailers. This is so I knew what the audience responds to and what they expect from the genre, thus resulting in me making decisions on what to include to show the genre. For example, Hostel had a lot of fast cuts which attracted the audience, resulting in me using similar editing techniques.
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For my advanced portfolio I created a horror trailer, Get Out, which used genre to attract the audience, and to help me creatively when planning and constructing the trailer. Genre is important as it is what helps the audience decide whether they want to pay for and use the media text. It also helps the producers in terms of things such as narrative, cast, and marketing.
Laceys repertoire of elements suggests that there is a framework to follow when creating genre in order to follow certain conventions to make it fit the genre. This framework includes five elements to consider; setting, character, narrative, iconography, and style. This relates to my trailer as I had to consider all of these areas and make sure they fit in with the horror genre. For example in terms of character, I had to include an antagonist as the audience would be expecting an some sort of violence, or torment inflicted upon the protagonist. I also used Carol J Clovers Final Girl theory when planning my characters by following it and including a female protagonist who starts out weak, but grows stronger over the course of the film. Although I followed this, I did challenge it in terms of how the Final Girl looked in order to make my trailer stand out in the market and not just repeat what already exists. Another area of Laceys repertoire of elements I followed strictly was iconography. This is because horrors use strong iconography in order to attract their audience such as blood, weapons and and a old derelict location. I followed this as I included weapons such as a knife and a chainsaw and set my film in a abandoned motel in order to make it clear it was a horror and included a lot of gore.
However, although I conformed to many of the horror genres conventions, following Laceys framework, my film would not attract horror fans in all parts of the world and would not have fit into the horror market thirty years ago. David Buckingham (1993) stated that Genre is not simply given by the culture but is a constant process of negotiation and change. For example, I made my horror film to attract a Western, teenage audience through use of language, clothing and the characters in terms of age, how they present themselves and the actions they take. Therefore it would not attract teenagers from other parts of the work necessarily due to different experiences and cultures. My film would not also be accepted in the 70's when horror films featured aliens and the idea of extra terrestrials taking over. This is because the horror genre has changed and developed overtime to fit into the way society has grown and changed in relation to what it has been exposed to. My trailer fits in with the modern horror audience as they expect more psychological elements bloody violence, with previous audiences would have been shocked by or would have rejected. Although the genre has developed over time, there was a few classic genre conventions that I adhered to which has stuck. The most notable one was the use of a high pitched female scream. This was first used in Alfred Hitchcock's iconic shower scene in Psycho (1960). This has stuck over time and has been used in a range of horror films. I chose to include this as it helped make the trailer more memorable and creates suspense and a sense of fear.
In order to fit in with the current horror market and attracts its audience, I had to look at and develop ideas from existing horror movies that are fairly recent and fit in with the gorey themes I wanted to show in my trailer and are evident in modern cult horrors. One of the films I looked at in depth was Hostel Part One (2006) which strongly influenced my creative decisions in terms of following the genre. One thing that I picked up from the trailer was the way genre was established through pace. This is something I followed in order to show the audience there is a climax in the film and to hook them. I also made my film quite dark in terms of lighting as that is a common convention used in all horrors and is therefore instantly recognisable to my target audience. This relates to McQuail (1987) theory that genre is set so that the text produced matched the expectations of its audience and to go along with its production. Although I made my trailer to match the audiences expectations of the horror genre, I also challenged and developed conventions in order to leave the audience not knowing what to expect. One element I changed was the final girl surviving. In horror's usually someone survives, who typically is the final girl. However, I challenged this by making it look like she gets out, but instead at the last minute gets caught. This was done in order to shock the audience.
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