Final Girl Theory

My group and I decided to use Carol Clover's final girl theory in our horror trailer as we felt that it related to the name of our trailer the most. As our trailer is called 'The Voyeurist' we felt that women are the most targeted when stalking. As a group, we decided on the name for our main character in our upcoming horror trailer. We chose the name 'Riley' as we wanted to include the final girl theory (Carol J Clover). 'Riley' is a unisex name and she follows the final girls theory's convention as she abstains from sex and does not drink alcohol. Also having a unisex name, Riley has some masculine aspects about her which further highlights her bravery and admiration as an 'alpha female'. Riley faces close to death experiences in our trailer, but will always come out surviving. As she is being stalked/watched this will highlight her bravery as she will know that someone is watching her, however will go into dark settings to face the villain. This will be the beginning of an enigma code.

Test Shots

Here are some test shots from our previous narrative.

List Of Shots Used For Our Trailer

Shots we intend to use for our trailer

• Close ups
• Low/ High angles
• Wide shots

Close Up 

The close up will be used to show the final girl. As the final girl is brave and almost innocent, the close ups will convey this aspect. There will also be close ups of the villain although their face will never be shown. This will give off a suspicious sense as audiences will want to find out more about the villains past and why they are chasing the final girl (Riley). 

Low Angle

Low angles will be used to show the final girls dominance and authority as she is brave. Most of the low angle shots will be of the final girl glaring at the villain. It will also show a binary opposition as most of the time, the final girl will be shot in the light and the villain in the dark. This enhances light versus dark. Another binary opposition which will be made apparent throughout will be good vs evil. The good character will be shot from a low angle to show their bravery, although sometimes shot from a high angle to show that they are weak. The villain will be similar, however most of the time shot from a low angle to show their power. 

Wide Shot

A wide shot will convey a running or an escape scene. It will enhance Barthes' enigma code, which will highlight the aspect of 'who done it? A scene that will be symbolic in our trailer will be the running scene of the hero/final girl running away from the villain. This is a typical aspect from a horror trailer which moves the narrative. It also makes the audience feel on edge as the villain is never really shown. We only see the final girl running away and looking scared. We intend for the scene to be sped up so that it gives more of an eerie sense. 

Cast List

Riley - Sharna Hylton

Lilith Woods (Villain) - Dawn Gallant

Classmate - Lois Douglas

A Clip That Has Influenced Our Production

As you can see from above, here is a clip from 1996 horror movie Scream. The final girl, Sidney is being chased by the villain in the clip. I feel that this scene is iconic as it has influenced my group and my choice for the chase scene in our production. As there is a typical chase scene in most horror films, I believe that creating a scene similar to this one will have a huge affect on the audience as we intend to make them feel on edge watching this scene. We also want to create a sense of suspense as the villain will be masked just like in Scream. This will also enhance Barthe's enigma code as it will give a sense of 'who done it' due to the final girl running to escape the villain.

Diagram Of Our Narrative

Here is a diagram of the activities which will occur in our trailer.

Location Settings

Here are a few locations Dawn and I filmed at whilst we were in the process of making our horror trailer. As we wanted to get a sense of stalking, we went to Norbury train station as our first location to shoot as we felt that it looked quite eerie as it was  quiet at the time. The camera was on a tripod and I filmed from outside of the window so that we was able to achieve the voyeuristic sense. The camera was focusing on Dawn in the first scene when she got a call from an unknown number. This highlights a stalking element as if someone that has phoned her is following her. We also went to Streatham Common by the swings. As we watched a horror trailer with a swing which was iconic, we decided to film the final girl on a swing, shooting the shot from an over the shoulder shot. We intend to use one of the settings as an iconic symbol in our trailer as we want to achieve this idea of someone being stalked. Afterwards, we took some pictures of the locations just in case we wanted to have a still image in our trailer which could also look very effective.