Evaluative Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product is the result of a combination of two horror film sub-genres, teen and supernatural/possessive. The blend itself is a subversion of general horror conventions with there being several teenage characters largely being associated with slasher flicks such as Sorority Row; in true possession films narrative is largely focused around one teen girl among adults, for example, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the pseudo documentary, The Last Exorcism. Our product challenges the conventional group of characters in a possessive horror this is because of the feedback we received from initial questionnaires regarding the identity of our main demographic; females between the ages of 15 and 18.

The narrative location is briefly outside of the girls’ school and within one of the characters' homes; these are safe places in which a violation would be most frightening. This choice is a fairly typical convention of real media products that we agreed would also be effective in our piece. The home becomes a prison when the spirit takes hold of the girls.

 

A feature frequently used in trailers is the use of a voiceover or, more commonly an abundance of dialogue. We subverted this convention and only used one phrase in our media product, "What do you want?", which is screamed by one character directly into the camera, giving the audience the point of view of the possessed. Dialogue gives the audience more insight into the narrative of the film; we however, felt it more important to concentrate onappropriate mise en scene to give an idea of the narrative and the genre, for example, the ouija board. A non-diegetic soundtrack did much of the work of a voiceover, developing this idea into something more effective. One film that include both of these features is The Craft, a poorly received horror film from the 90s.  

We chose to associate our media piece with film companies Twisted Pictures and Dark Castle. We used their institutional idents to help give an indication of the genre and associate our film with others that have used these institutions. Institutional idents are a traditional feature in film trailers of all genres.

 

Without the code of heavy dialogue it was important to define our characters for audience, and let them stereotype them. By dressing them in school uniforms reminiscent of that of St Trinians it was easy to give the idea of upper-class private school girls, promiscuity and rebellion.

The use of conventionally attractive actors is a broad and common feature of trailers of all genres, only really differing when the narrative of the film is somewhat based on a character's disfigurement or simply that they are monsters. Attractive actors make films appealing towards those of the opposite sex and especially important in a film of this type. We conformed to this convention in order to make the film appealing to men, with women already interested because of they are unable to relate to the characters. An example of this is Sorority Row, a film that could be considered a 'Chick Flick' because of the majority of female characters, despite its genre. Attractive women and sexy clothing e.g. lingerie, make this film also appeal to men.

Teen party clothing such as that in Sorority Row or Night of the Demons reflects the desperate nature of the situation by becoming torn, dirty and often bloodied; this typical aspect didn't play a part in our production. In fact, very little clothing is seen after the turning point of the trailer; the characters continue to wear the same clothing but the low level lighting and frequent extreme close ups does not advertise this There is more than a suggestion however, of the dire and dangerous environment they are in demonstrated by a host of wounds, cuts and bruises display on our characters in the final third of the trailer.

 

Final Girl Theory can often be applied to horror films; these include Halloween, The Ring, The Grudge and Sorority Row. Although usually associated with Slashers, our Possessive/Supernatural Horror trailer was made with the idea  that the most morally 'pure' character would survive to defeat the demon. This is displayed mainly by the use of a weapon and that fact she is set apart from her peers by not 

'pursuing pleasure', for example, smoking and dressing provocatively.

The use of a knife as a weapon by the protagonist demonstrates the important skill of utilising the environment in order to give a better chance of survival. Weapons in horror films are generally
items found around the home in the desperate struggle to protect themselves and the other characters. Examples of this include Laurie in the 1978 film Halloween, in order to defend herself
against the crazed killer. The hint of subversion of this traditional convention is the actual pointlessness and hopelessness of such a weapon against a possessive evil spirit. This weapon is very
unlikely to defeat the evil antagonist and therefore will only provide temporary protection, if that. 

Teaser trailers generate an interest in the audience generally by showing some of the most exciting material of the film. These are fast cut in and often in an order that does not match the true order of the film. This gives little of the narrative away. This technique of creating disequilibrium is jarring to the audience and is a way of pulling them in.  Despite this however, our one minute teaser trailers also features scenes to establish information such as the location and characters, despite being a more of a characteristic of a theatrical trailer. Usually, in this kind of trailer about half of the product is dedicated to the establishment of the initial situation and the rest to confuse and entice the audience with the disruption of the situation, relating closely to Todorov’s Theory. We subverted the convention of disequilibrium so that we might include more of the narrative in our trailer.

• Our poster most obviously conforms to forms and conventions of the genre by featuring the film’s antagonist.
• Rule of thirds that is often used to create effective posters, this poster uses very defined sections. Our product does conform to this but not entirely accurately, giving a jarring effect on the audience.
• The bold whiteness of the face stands out against the background. White is a common colour used in the horror genre, usually coupled with red; this however is not featured.
  Unlike in teen horror posters such as Sorority Row or The Craft, only one girl instead of the whole group of characters is present, suggesting that she has some significance to the plot. This is namely as the embodiment of the antagonistic spirit, appearing decaying and threatening.
• Like the poster of the film Orphan, this poster employs the one iconic portrait.  However, it is to the side, creating a landscape image with the title present on the other side.
• Shadows around the image signify the darkness of the film and also so there are no distractions from the image, this is a convention we conform to because of its effectiveness. An example of this is the film poster of The Number 23. 

Our webpage is very typical of the horror genre and largely conforms to codes and conventions.

· Black background and same iconic image shows the threat and mystery of the events in the film, parallel to that featured on the poster.

· The title text of the page is at top in the centre, clearly standing out against the rest of the information on the page.

· There are share options linking to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube, something that has become very common among sites that generate interest with viral campaigns.

· There are links so that more of the page could be explored, as well as large font in order to draw attention and clearly mark the different options.

· There is the option to pre-order the DVD, online shopping in the second function of any film webpage, after promotion. Our film conforms to typical codes around the film generating profit.
· Teaser trailer centre of the page, with the tagline of the film and the release date underneath it.
· Involvement of secondary images on the page such as the planchette that give clues to the genre and the narrative.
· Placement of portrait makes her appear somewhat predatory, and follows the idea of the rule of thirds.
· The main soundtrack has not been included. The site remains silent except for the teaser trailer when played to keep the focus on it. This is one thing that is uncommon among movie websites and a code we have subverted.

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

With the help of a questionnaire we created on SurveyMonkey asking our audience about the codes and conventions of a possesive/supernatural horror film, our narrative and what you would usually see in a film trailer, we were able to use our audience's answers to help complete our final trailer. We recieved a positive response, and found many comments that we felt would help improve our trailer before submitting the final draft. Here are the results:

*75% of our audience are female
*87% of our audience are ages 15-18
*When asked what the main feautures of a possessive/supernatural film were, the main responses were ghosts, spirits, death and possession of the main characters, mystery/suspense
*When asked if the creature haunting the characters should be seen, 95% of people said no, saying that it would ruin the suspense as the fear of the unknown was important.
*When asked what locations would be used in a supernatural/possessive film, the main responses were the home of one of the characters, churches, abandoned houses, graveyards, and hospitals.


From this we could see what the audience wanted and what they didn't want; many films use focus groups, showing a small audience the film so that they can say what they like about it or what can be improved before the film is actually released, so that it can potentially be re-edited. It is important that their comments are listened to lists so that film makers, or us with our trailer, can ensure that the film/trailer appeals to the target audience decided, as they will be the ones to watch the final product.  

We learnt how to how to define our target demographic through questions on age, gender and ideas of narrative, and through research into demographics of films of a similar genre or narrative to ours, such as the ones we have deconstructed. This has helped us to define our target audience, which will be male and females aged 15-25, with the film's certificate being 15.

We felt that the characters would appeal to both genders; the males would be attracted to the girls, whilst the female audience would either admire the girls, or resent them if they cannot relate to them. This is supported by evolutionary research into mate selection; men will choose the women who are young, slim and physically attractive as they percieve them to be the perfect 'mate'. Women will be jealous of other females because they are competing for the attention of the males, and if they have those qualities that appeal to men. The girls in our trailer are typical of the 'perfect mate' in modern western society and film - young, average size 8/10, physically attractive, sexually attractive (seen through their clothing, and the way they walk/present themeselves), long hair and typically white.

Our female audience may also resent the girls because we have presented them as unattainable in their beauty and confidence, as many films do make their main female characters, but it is important that they do dislike them as it means they will feel less sympathy for the girls when they are killed.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have also been useful for recieving feedback from the audience on our trailer and our anxillary tasks, our poster and our webpage.

 On Facebook and Twitter we have set up pages for 'fans', so that we can share the creative process with people we know, as well as others who might follow us if people share the page on their own walls.

By posting our trailer, webpage and poster on Facebook we have managed to collect many comments which have been used to improve our coursework tasks, as it is important that the audience can give feedback that we take into account, otherwise there would be little point in asking for the feedback in the first place. All comments from our audience have been very useful and positive:

By creating a channel on YouTube to share our teaser trailer, test shots and behind-the-scenes videos has also helped to create a connection between ourselves and the audience, as they can see the creative process behind our trailer, as well as see the trailer itself, and they can comment here too:


It also means we can share the information more easily to other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger for the rest of our audience to see, meaning it is easy to comment on a variety of internet sites.

The Last Exorcism Trailer Deconstruction

'The Last Exorcism' teaser trailer explores the story of the possession of a teenage girl and her father’s fight for the soul of his daughter. The audience is introduced to this situation by the Reverend called on to perform the exorcism, the hook of the film is that although the exorcist has “performed over 50 exorcisms”, this is unlike anything he has ever seen. Its contextual relevance of this horror film comes from the use of a teenage main character and her demonic possession.

 

The teaser begins with the recognition of two institutions through the presence of idents. Lionsgate, Strike and Studio Canal are all featured, with usually only two used this is somewhat unconventional but suggests very high production values with three difference companies involved in fabrication.

The use of a conventionally attractive yet innocent looking main character features in both this trailer and in our own production. This is highlighted by the figures pale skin with little to no makeup, coupled with long, dark unstyled hair. The shots of these characters are also very similar, both represented through a facial close up. One slight difference is shot angle, this is interesting because of the characters’ very different role in each film. Where as in 'The Last Exorcism' this teenager becomes an object of demonic possession and therefore an antagonist, our production is the opposite. Our representation of an innocent girl is the idea of the ‘final girl’, a protagonist, the eventual survivor and eradicator of the demon. A high angled shot on the former is deceiving, convincing the audience of her apparent innocence. Our piece features a very slightly low angled shot on the character, demonstrating her power, though it may not be immediately apparent.

A use of weapon against a demon by protagonist is a common convention of horror films. In 'The Last Exorcism' this is fabrication through the use of a religious object, a crucifix, often thought to warn off the devil. This object suggests an idea that the possession is an on-going problem and there have been plans and preparations in order to deal with it. The use of a knife to protect a character against a demon suggests quite the opposite. This is a common household item that has more likely been grabbed in order at an attempt of self-preservation by the character. That lack of knowledge of the danger creates fear in the viewer.

In the trailer there is a short sample of the demon speaking through the possessed body, this is coupled with a close up very different to the shot we saw of the teenage girl earlier. She now appears someone completely different, no longer a sweet innocent girl but a brutal, bedraggled figure of evil. Her hair has been thrown over her face, suggesting she is on all four and has risen from the floor like an animal. This theme is continued through her stance with face tilted down, giving the feeling of a predator about to strike. One of own shots is comparable, a possession takes over as the character rolls her head, jolting from side to side.

Over the shoulder/close up shots of the character observes their possession in a mirror features in both productions. In 'The Last Exorcism' this is effectively achieved by a lack of focus on the actual character making her a background figure. The camera is actually focuses on the mirror itself and two crop ears laid against it; this creates fear because the threat cannot be properly evaluated because the audience is not allowed to see it clearly. The mirror itself is dirty, between this and the corn it suggests that she is in the family barn, in a rural area and therefore an idea of isolation. This isolation seems a lack of aid for other characters to protect themselves from this threat. Our own mirror shot demonstrates the effect physically of the demon on the character.

The bizarre, unnatural movements of a demon using human body is a feature used very commonly in possessive horror films, 'The Last Exorcism' is no exception. This action has been enhanced through the use of a vignette effect in order to create a shadow around the image. This implies that the figure is cast in torch light and there poses an immediate threat to the character holding the light/camera. A red filter has also been overlaid to give the idea of horror and a strong possibility of danger. The footage itself has been flipped so that it appears that the possessed is in fact crawling on the ceiling towards the audience; on closer inspection the angling of the door means that it is the camera that is upside down and not the character, this is supported by the position of her hair in relation to gravity. However, initially this creates an impossible and therefore supernaturally fearsome action. This suggests that maybe some home footage of the possession has gone wrong and the camera person has been forced to abandoned the camera, it has however continue to film and capture the true horror. In our production we also use the action of crawling. Doing this upstairs creates an animalistic quality and also very unnatural shapes, for example, the characters’ arms appear to be abnormally long.

- Meg

Also see... The Last Exorcism Poster Deconstruction

The Use of Genre in our Media Trailer Narrative

We decided that we would choose the genre of horror once again, as we had enjoyed making a horror film opening for AS. However this time we decided to try a new sub genre; instead of psychological thriller we have chosen to do a supernatural/possessive narrative. Highlighted in red in the information below are examples of when we used or did not follow the codes and conventions of the genre.

The Genre of Horror
The horror film seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural. Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots written within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, satanism, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and serial killers.

Design of horror
Horror films are designed to:
- Frighten and panic its audience
- Cause alarm and dread
- Invoke its audience's hidden most/worst fears
- Captivate and entertain its audience in a liberating manner.
- Often concludes in a shocking yet terrifying finale.

Depending on the audience watching, horrors can create different types of fear:
- Vulnerability
- Terror of the unknown
- Nightmares
- Alienation
- Revulsions

The Sub-Genre of Supernatural Horror
Supernatural horror has its roots in folklore and religious traditionas on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic, and the principle of evil embodied in the devil. These were manifested in stories of withces, vampires, werewolves, ghosts and spirits. A lot of horror fiction was written in the eighteenth century, usually written by women and marketed at a female audience, a typical scenario being a resourceful female protaganist menaced by fiends in a gloomy castle.

Supernatural in film
Supernatural films tend to have themes including gods and goddesses, ghosts, apparitions, spirits, miracles, and other similar ideas or depictions of extraordinary phenomena.

Haunting and Demonic possesions
These films play on our fear of the unknown, superstition and the idea that evil forces exist in the world. these forces can remain spiritual presences (e.g Don't look now) or can take the guise of witches (e.g. The Blair Witch Project), ghosts (The Haunting) or demons (The Exorcist). The characters fall prey to an evil force that is trying to victimise them in some way. The evil entity is doing this to gain vengeance, for example in The Blair Witch Project the witch is taking vengeance on the characters for trying to expose her. In Nightmare on Elm Street Freddie is taking revenge on the people who killed him by haunting the dreams of their children and stalking them in their dreams. In many haunted house stories the ghost simply resents the presence of the people who have just moved in. Sometimes the evil force wants to corrupt its victims to make them do evil e.g. The Shining. In this case the evil force wants to take control of its victim by taking over his body, mind or soul. Often in these stories there is the fight between good and evil in the Christian sense - temptation and sin. So there is usually a counter part to the evil force - a symbol of good.

Sound
Sound used within supernatural horrors tends to be:
- Fast paced music for tense scenes or action scenes
- Common use of choir singing
- Common use of a beat in the time of a drum/heart
- Piano/Organ music - whether it be fast or slow it has a spooky feel.

Although we have only used one of these main ideas of supernatural film sound, we have linked our sound to the mood and scenes shown in the trailer at the time. The suggestion of choir singing we have taken into account by using sounds made by several different people at the same time - the whispering done by Emily and I, as well as the different laughs used throughout our trailer.

Location
Location within supernatural horrors tend to be based in places such as:
- Churches - huge relation to supernatural and Christ (main base for supernatural genre). The frequent links between supernatural films and religion are key, and are why we chose to have a ouija board as our main prop, and choose the title of Penance, a religious word for payment for sins.
- Barns/ Farms - deserted, dark, old
- Fields, country roads - deserted, associated with creepy looking surroundings eg. trees, animals and birds etc.

Although not one of the main location suggestions, we decided to use the home because we felt that this would be scariest for our audience - the home is where you are meant to feel the most safe, as nothing should harm you there - yet spirits have been allowed to violate and intrude into the home of one of the girls, and there is nothing they can do - they are exposed and vulnerable.

There are also conventions for the types of shots generally found in supernatural films, and we have followed most of these; handheld camera shots; quick zoom ins and outs; point of view shots; bird's eye for establishing shots; dirty shots.

Theory regarding the supernatural genre in films and audience reception
Witches, vampires and demons all have their roots in folklore. Before modern medicine many disorders, diseases and psychological illnesses were attributed to supernatural causes e.g. epilepsy was thought to be caused by possession by demons. So these mythologies are in our 'collective unconscious' and are brought to the surface by horror films.

Carlos Clarens believes that the horror film renders on film "the imminent fears of mankind: damnation, demonic possession, old age, death".

H.P Lovecraft - "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown".

-Rhiannon 

Codes and Conventions Related To Narrative

In order to support our questionnaires, we researched the codes and conventions of typical possessive horror films and decided how to relate these to our story line.


Settings:
The homes of the protagonists or other areas that they frequent are common settings. For example, other settings could be the school they attend or their church, although the main location is often their home. This is a common theme in supernatural films due to the subversion of the security that is usually linked with being at home. When an area that would usually be considered safe has been breached and become threatened, this creates feelings of unease and heightens fear, thereby inciting feelings of fear in the audience as well as the characters of the film. Homes are also used in possessive films as they make it feel more personal to the viewer and more realistic. This can create the idea that it could happen to them and create a more intense dependency on the outcome of the film as they hope that the antagonistic being is defeated. Other common locations can be abandoned houses, woods or graveyards. These kind of locations are seen in films such as 'Insidious' and the 'Paranormal' franchise.
We decided to set our film mainly in the home of one of the protagonists, and include few other locations in order to create the sense of imprisonment and isolation from the real world. This is aimed to incite feelings of claustrophobia and discomfort in the audiences as the characters experience a lack of control and cannot escape the events as they occur. We decided to include another location at the beginning of the film in order to introduce the characters, showing their school. The school establishes the girls as teenagers, applying to our target audience and also making them appear somewhat more vulnerable.


Characters:
The main characters are commonly shown to be normal before the events of the film, making the events of the film appear more shocking while also allowing the audience to identify with the characters so that they are more invested in the outcome. The characters are usually females. Combined with our own research it became clear that the females are commonly young, typically attractive girls. This can make them appear more vulnerable while also appealing to audiences. We found that the main characters are often seen as kind or moral people, making them easy to relate to, although perhaps plagued by a secret or past event.  This kind of character is seen in films such as 'Paranormal Activity' and 'The Ring'.
We have decided to include a group of five teenage girls and include them all as protagonists of the entire film. This allows us to examine stereotypes in characters and expand the focus to a larger group as a twist on some supernatural films. This kind of group-haunting is seen in some films such as 'Night of the Demons' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', and is successful as the audience can watch the group struggle to survive and relate to them, while also allowing some sense of justice if an unsavoury character dies. There will be no adults in our film, as although typically some form of authority such as a priest is often called, we enjoyed the convention linked with slashers in that the adults are useless and the teenage characters are left to defend themselves. We have therefore combined and used inspiration from other sub-genres.


Character costumes:

• The costumes of the characters before the events are usually stylish and attractive, showing them to be appealing and aspirational people. The costumes are usually conservative such as trousers or business attire, in neutral colours that do not make them stand out. This acts to suggest the character is moral or normal, and contrasts with the completely unnatural events to come. this can be seen in films such as 'Drag Me To Hell'.
  We have decided to go against this convention by making our teenage girls appear more promiscuous and sexually appealing. This links with their ages and the trends of current fashion to sexualise fashion, therefore making their characters more realistic. However, we will be using more conservative costuming for the main protagonist that will survive the events of the film, in accordance with the Final Girl Theory, by making her apear less immoral and bearing masculine traits.
• As the events unfold, the costumes of the characters usually become more unkempt and dirty, relating to their struggle to survive and lack of control. For example, their clothes may be ripped or bloody.
  We are going to adhere to this convention by giving the protagonists injuries.
• Although the antagonistic being is not always shown, when it is there is usually dark costuming or shadows, with pale make up and perhaps some injuries. This is also true when a protagonist has been possessed, their make up usually being used to pronounce circles under eyes or white/disgusting skin.
  We are going to adhere to this convention, as we mean for some of our protagonists to be possessed by the spirit. We will use make up to achieve the look, although most of the possession will be shown more through their actions rather than their appearance. The make up will be used to create one main shot that will be used to shock audiences as the extent of the possession is shown.

Weapons:

The weapons used by the protagonists to protect themselves is similar to other horror sub-genres in that they are picked up from the surroundings in desperate attempts to protect themselves. This relates to their lack of control and desperation, making the events appear more realistic. These could be bats, crowbars, knives or in some cases home-fashioned weapons such as crosses. The use of normal everyday objects makes the events seem more possible, so incite more fear in the audiences as they consider what weapons they would use in the same situation. The antagonistic entity often does not use weapons in the same way as in slashers, in that they often cause death by possessing protagonists or making unnatural events occur that lead to death.
Most of our protagonists will not have the chance to use weapons, but the main protagonist, who is the survivor, will at one point be seen with a knife trying to protect herself. The spirit will not use conventional weapons and will attack by possessing the victims.

Lighting:

Low level lighting and shadows are often played with in supernatural horrors. This could be linked with the weather, such as storms or night-time, or could be due to blackouts caused by the spirit. This lighting shows the desperation and entrapment of the characters, while also enhancing the sense of mystery created by the unseen antagonistic entity. The use of darkness can also enhance vulnerability as the character is unable to see, and this can create ominous tones as the audience fears for what is hidden in the darkness.
We will contrast natural and normal lighting at the beginning with darker lighting and silhouettes once the spirit is attacking in order to contrast the equilibrium of the characters at the beginning with the disequilibrium created by the supernatural events. It will also show their helplessness and inability to protect themselves.

Sound:

• A mixture of parallel and contrapuntal music is employed in the genre depending on the events in terms of the soundtrack The use of parallel soundtracks can be seen through the use of intense music during confrontation or battle scenes (typically towards the end of the film) or through whining strings to enhance an ominous tone (usually used to build tension throughout the film). Contrapuntal music can be used to contrast situations such as the use of childish music during unnatural events, often linked with child ghosts. It could also be used through the unnatural use of the characters possessions, such as if their radio keeps turning on to a particular pop song to build tension.
  The soundtracks we use in our teaser trailer will be parallel in that they will match the tone of the scene, although they will act to contrast with one another. The first will be club music during their introduction as teenagers, relating to their interests and lack of morals. The second soundtrack will be introduced once the unnatural events start occurring, and will be industrial music with a metallic sound to relate to the uncomfortable and intense events unfolding. Editing will be used to make the soundtracks reflect the tone even more, such as making the club music somewhat distorted to show the characters to be drunk, and thudding booms in the industrial music to create tension and emphasise fear.
• Unnatural sounds are used in possessive horrors, such as disembodied whispers or laughs that refer to the spirit and their unnatural presence. These enhance the tension of scenes and are used to subvert normal understandings of sounds to make the audience feel uncomfortable. For example, laughter is usually considered positive, but in these situations it is seen as threatening.
  We will use unnatural sounds to relate to the spirits, working with the soundtracks to emphasise certain events and enhance the atmosphere. 

Common motifs:

Creaking doors and curtains blowing are often used to create tension towards the beginning of the film, before the true nature of events is shown. They can also be used later on to show that the spirit is coming to create fear for the protagonist. The linking of every day noises or events to the spirit creates fear as it incites a reaction in audiences in their own homes upon experiencing these events, making them feel more afraid even after the viewing of the film is over. Other such events could be candles flickering or going out, lights turning on and off, patches of water with no clear source, or shadowed hiding places with peepholes to look through.
We will use some of these common motifs to enhance the tension, such as having characters hide behind doors and the use of noises with no known source.

Seances are also commonly seen in possessive films, as the characters attempt to contact the spirits in order to communicate and find out the reasons for their haunting. If not during the seance, some form of communication is often seen from the spirit as they show the protagonist what they want from them. This is seen in films such as 'Drag Me To Hell' and 'The Haunting in Connecticut'.

We will use this motif as the basis of the haunting, as it is the seance through a ouija board that seems to summon the spirit to the protagonists. Communication showing what the spirit wants will also be shown as a repeated theme throughout the trailer.

The protagonists often make some form of discovery of the spirit's past or the reason for their haunting, and this can be through the seance or through exploration of the haunting area. This is seen in 'The Haunting in Connecticut' as the ghost leads the protagonist to discover their past.

We will not show discoveries of the spirit's past in order to make it appear more mysterious and also threatening through lack of understanding. This will also lend to the feeling of helplessness that we want to incite in audiences. However, as mentioned above we will include some form of explanation as to what the spirit wants.  

-Emily