Media Synopsis

It starts with four main characters who are friends, two boys and two girls all of the same age of 18. They start to hear many stories in their college of a girl who killed herself in woods a few miles away from their home, and start to be intrigued by the story. Although it is said after researching that the suicide of the girl was because of her being brutally tortured and bullied by other teenagers of their age, and an old witch tale of the story is heard that the woods is one of the most popular hanging spots and people do not leave without being hung. The teenagers continue further research of her death on the internet where they find the date shown she died on 11^th March 1920 and an image shown of her just before her death, which they print out and also the exact location on the woods.

One of the male characters ‘Zack’ then suggests the idea of them all camping there and proving to everyone the nonsense of the witch tales and that they are not cowards. The others disagree at first as they are wary of what may happen, although one of the girls ‘Holly’ agrees too as she is fond of Zack. The other two Livy and Zeb have then no choice as they are persuaded into the idea and would only appear as cowards to their other friends.

 The friends then pack their bags and set off all together in their car to the woodland area where they are currently happy with laughter and show no fear. The four friends also decide to film most of the trip on their personal cam corder to prove to people of their ‘fun’ camp out and to look back on for memories in the future. They then all pull up outside the huge woodland in a lay-by and begin to walk into the trees for their long hours walk, although Livy starts to show fear and stays extremely close to the others as it begins to get dark.

The walk then continues until they reach the appropriate site now being the pitch black of night with their torches and they hear the mysterious noises of the wood. Until they start to set up the tents they realise that Livy has gone missing, and is not with them, although Holly suggests that she may ‘have gone to the toilet’.  After an hour of going by Zeb commands that the group now go off and look for her but Holly and Zack are almost certain she is playing a prank on them, so they decide to film the walk attaching the cams to their heads , waiting for Livy to jump out on them. Until did they know that their walk lead them to Livy hanging feet off the floor from a tree cold dead. Holly immediately screams and all three run horrified back to the camp, with no signal on their phones or contact with anyone the group have no choice but to wait until the next morning for help. Still filming the whole event it is clear to see the now scared impression on all of their face, also not realising that behind them while the camera is filming is a girl standing behind them. Her head slightly titled long hair covering her face, a white dress, white skin, white eyes, and the rope still around her neck which still stayed there from 1920. What the teenagers do not realise yet, is that the girl is seeking revenge on teenagers that caused her own death by trying to kill them by hanging them herself.

After waking up in the morning Holly and Zak wake up to find rope burns around all of their necks, and Zeb to be not in the tent to which they then find him outside being hung to death from the tree outside there camp whilst being burnt from the camp fire.

Being now totally freaked out to two left then run as fast as they can back to the car covered in bruises and dirt to realise that they have been running for miles and there is now no way out, passing numerous hanging ropes on their way waiting for them to be filled. Shortly Holly then realises that they are still filming everything after the camera being still attached to her, as they then watch back last nights events, witnessing the wheezing heavy breathing hanging girl enter their tent over the top of them watching everything she did. It is then they realise the situation they have got themselves into that they are next on the revenge list and there is no way out without being hung.

The story then ends after more torturing events by the girl and the two teenagers left and up committing their own suicide as the cannot cope any longer. 

Film trailer activity

A Nightmare on Elm St

Genre : Horror

Narrative: The Story is about a man 'Freddy Cruger' who is brutally dies by being burnt by people. He then comes back to seek his revenge on teenagers who are the children of the murderers who first see them in their dreams.

Unique Selling Point: A specific hand that he has which has blades as fingers leaving unique marks. Also his scary burnt image that gives the film its genre of horror.

Target audience: 15years+ Male and Female

Music: During the beginning of the trailer of the chase of Freddy there is non diegetic background music which  consists of a strong dramatic fast beat relating the the fast pace of Freddy's heart and making it tense for the audience. Throughout the trailer there is also the diegetic sound of breathing, showing the victims vulnerability throughout  and the fear. Also the diegetic sound of the footsteps continues throughout the trailer indicating that Freddy is coming close or always near, again making it tense for the audience. Diegetic loud symbol sounds also occur every time of an event in the trailer, following by the unique sound of Freddy's blades screeching indicating his danger.

Camera: There consists of many long shots at the beginning in the chase of Freddy indicating to the audience the setting and storyline including a birdseye view. There is also many points of view shots from the villain indicating his next victim and who is watching, the low angles of him also indicate his power of the teenagers.

Pace: The pace is extremely fast at the beginning of the chase but then slows with the dreams of the teenagers allowing the audience to be familiar with the storyline and slowly build up the tension.The pace then builds up again being fast and snappy as the events start to happen of his revenge.

Dialogue: The dialogue of Freddy saying: ''What do you think I did? I didn't do anything!'' shows to the audience that he was murdered for nothing being now vulnerable and that he is a victim of the parents

The diegetic dialogue of the girl saying ''I'm having these dreams, and there was a burnt man'' indicates the death of Freddy and that she is seeing him in her dreams, connecting the audience with the storyline.

There is also many diegetic dialogue saying 'Help!' and screams showing the fear of the teenagers.

Voiceover: There is a quiet voiceover throughout saying 'elm street' repetitively throughout the trailer, relating to the title of the film and setting giving a scary affect. The most fearful voiceover is said in a little ghostly girls voice saying 'You will never sleep again' this indicates the danger of the victims and also relates it to the audience as they put them in the position of a victim in the film.

Special effects: Special effects used are snow in the house which is used for the girls dream. Also the special effect of the villain Freddy of his metal blade hand and burnt face which is the main image used to scare the victims and audience. There is also a special effect of a girl rising off the bed indicating the power of the villain in the film and what he is capable of doing.

Credits and intertitles: 'From producer Michael Bay' showing the audience the maker of the film, and then the title 'A Nightmare on Elm St'. Then the main credit shown is the message near the end which is directed at the audience ' Don't fall asleep'. This allows the audience to be scared but then allow them to be dared to watch the film after the trailer, allowing to remember the message when finished.

Trailers

The Blair Witch Project

This trailer is one that I am concentrating on in making my own trailer. It is based on students taking real footage and made into a documentary like film. This would be appropriate  to take ideas from on our own trailer as it is realistic, has a low budget and would be an easier option to do.

The Ring

.

The Ring is another film I am looking at based on the main horror character 'the ring girl'. I think the image of the girl will be easy to create and gives the film it's genre of 'horror'. The girl in the film was murdered down a well and then comes back to kill people, this is another storyline I could consider in a film.