Frame 1: This is the first shot of the trailer. The shot, along with the music that goes with it, establishes what the trailer is about. In this shot, the character playing Freddy transforms into a clown. First of all I took two pictures, a picture of Grant (who plays Freddy) and a picture of the clown but the subjects in both of these images were at different heights and therefore their eyes were not in line with one another. I went into PhotoShop and selected the two pictures I wanted and firstly I cropped both of the images to the size I was using for the videos (which is 16:9). I then used rulers on PhotoShop to mark out where the eyes on the clown started, finished and where the pupil is. I then put those measurements onto Grant’s picture and saw I had to move them over to the left by two centimetres. I then used the quick select tool to select Grant and I moved him over to where he was supposed to be. This left me with a white background where Grant used to be so I went to select and then inverse so the background was now selected. This meant I could fill in the background using the clown stamp tool without getting the original background colour on Grant. For this opening scene I decided to use images rather than video because images are easy to manipulate on PhotoShop as there is no movement to interfere with the desired effect. This is done with the editing software, Corel Video Studio 12, where I have chosen a cross-fade effect which is spread over a few seconds. This creates the illusion that the Freddy character is literally turning into the clown in front of you. The music in the background is a child singing a rhyme, “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you”. This clearly tells the audience that there is something wrong and something terrible is about to happen. It also makes the audience raises a lot of questions, e.g. why Freddy is turning into a clown? I have noticed that in some trailers the first shot is not of the location, therefore not an establishing shot, but of one of the characters who is either saying something or waiting for something to happen - (“Insidious” trailer). This, I believe, is establishing the horror element instead of the location and this is what I have tried to do with this first shot. I have tried to portray the genre of the trailer in this first shot by using the common fear of a clown. Clowns, or masks, are used in quite a number of films. The most famous film being Stephen King’s IT, other films include: The Strangers and even in Batman Begins. This first shot is the first shot we see Freddy and therefore introduces him as the main character.
Frame 2: This shot is of Harry who plays the part of Joey. This helps to set the scene because it shows Joey walking into a house. This also helps set the uncomfortable nature of the trailer as Joey walks from the light, symbolising safety here, into the dark and possibly the danger that is yet to come. It is a low angled shot which suggests that he is still in control of himself and as the trailer goes on we see that when Joey walks into the house Freddy is standing behind him, the camera angle is slightly high angled, which suggests that Joey now has no control over what happens to him as he walks into the dark. The moving from light into dark is a convention of horror films because it emphasises the fact that the character is moving from safety into the unknown.
Frame 3: This shot shows Freddy with his drawing and the words “kill her” written in blood. This continues the story well because now we know not to trust Freddy for a number of reasons: where did the writing come from? And will he obey what it is tell him to do? We also do not know who she is yet which highlights the trailer’s mysterious narrative. This is, to an extent, a convention in horror films, the writing of important messages in blood, which shows the audience the danger of what is to come.
Frame 4: This shot introduces Abby into the trailer and it is clearly the person that was being referred to in the previous shot, “kill her”. It is typical to have a male character as the villain and a female character as innocent person that the male character is trying to kill examples: The Shining, Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. Some films do not follow this convention and set their own convention, some using Satan as the villain and some just killing people who ‘deserve’ to die. Some of the most famous ones are: Saw, Blair Witch Project, The Omen and The Exorcist. This is a long shot of Freddy and Abby in low key lighting. The main source of light is a desk lamp, one of the props I used, which highlights Abby and shows her to be innocent but surrounded by darkness and furthermore the danger she shall soon be in. This is further emphasised by her relaxed position and the fact that she is oblivious to Freddy standing over her as she reads. The light in effect framing Abby contrasts her with Freddy further as he is framed by the darkness. His position allows him to look down upon her giving him the power in the shot.
Frame 5 and 6: These two frames are linked; the split is shown visually and clearly for the first time by a series of hard cuts between identical shots except for the costume. This emphasises the split personality in Freddy and show him turning into what he believes is his true form. The flashing stresses how unsettling the trailer is and puts emphasis on the genre, horror – the flashing image of the clown, and fear that the audience have at this point.
Frame 7: This shot shows us the title of the film “Split”. It is an exact replica from the poster and therefore the poster and the trailer are linked by the title’s font and appearance. The red grain in the background symbolises blood and danger so this also adds to the story line and terror.
Frame 8: This shot is one of the last ones in the trailer. It shows the clown standing behind Abby. To get the lighting effect I used a strobe light. I got a friend to plug it in, turn it on and move their hand in front of the light to create the illusion that the light is flashing. This flashing reminds you of the previous scene when the images of Freddy and the clown were flashing and it also heights the suspense because you don’t know if Freddy (the clown) kills Abby. It also adds to the story line by creating a loophole because you don’t know if Abby is killed or not so it might escape.
Frame 9: This is the last shot in the trailer. It provides the audience with the important information about the film, for example: who directed it and who the actor where. The website is there so that the audience can get more information on the film if they want to. The white ghost like shadow behind the website is there to repeat the sense of a split personality.
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