Evaluation
I produced a trailer based off my research collected on Zombie/Horror hybrids. My trailer focuses on a group of school girls who must survive the spreading zombie disease without being bitten or worse- killed. My aim in editing was to produce a trailer that would entice the audience having them on the edge of their seats, heart racing and palms sweaty with anticipation of what's happening next.
A Zombie, in the simplistic and most stereotyped sense; is a person who has lost his or her sense of self-awareness and identity, and cares only for the destruction (and often consumption) of any human or living thing around them, no matter what the circumstances, or cost to themselves. They make up for this loss of intelligence in sheer numbers, as the state of zombieism is almost always contagious, and spreads like wildfire into massive hordes. In our trailer we showed this by showing the different groups of zombies sticking together in pairs or small groups quickly developing. Technically speaking, true zombies or the "zombies of old" are almost always dead humans.
In my research on the types of zombies I tried to link the zombies of my production to those similar to the Pittsburg Zombie which is why I made sure to have a lot of blood handy since they are the flesh-eating, blood lusting type of zombie. It is these type of zombies that have the least resemblance to humans because they are "completely turned" their human voices just screams (which we encouraged our actors to participate in) and walks are odd and distorted because of their bodies dying- the only thing keeping them going is their blood lust. When editing the trailer I made sure to have the sounds of the howls and screams come over the background noise to emphasise the possible danger. The white noise effect or also known as the Rooster effect and black and white toning allowed us to make the class rooms seem abandoned (another code and convention) as well as make it look like surveillance or security cameras. Which gives a new point of view.
A lot of the primary and secondary research including in the "I am Legend" film and "Warm Bodies" show how the survivors are encouraged to use the equipment around them to defend themselves, meaning that a lot of third person viewing is expected. This is why we have in our trailer chemicals being used as in a High school science lab they tend to be found. Weapons were harder for us because in a school there is not a lot of things that students can or would know how to use as a weapon and that would be safe for us to preform; objects like desks and chairs we made sure to use as barricades against the doors as they are what are commonly used in zombie films. In modern schools doors have class and windows are bigger and also made of glass, allowing zombies to easily break in. This sense of vulnerability I tried to use in my media production by showing mid shots of the survivor with their back to the glass and the zombie close or by showing how easy it is for zombies to push doors open too.
As a result of my investigation I discovered that:
>Zombies although having many types, mainly stick to a dead-like vessel who survives because of something forcing them to eat the human survivors or pass on their disease.
>The audience seem to prefer a group of survivors so that they can relate to each character type and empathise with them when they turn or die.
>To make a good trailer the editing needs to have quick cut-to transitions to keep up with the pace of the film, and fast paced music which is bound to make the audience feel involved and jump.
