Oculus analysis

Genre is a set of principles for the category of compositions. The term genre is normally used to categories creative speech, any type of art utterance. Genre in films refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Most theories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre criticism

Nicholas Abercrombie believed that the boundaries between genres are shifting and are becoming more and more permeable. Abercrombie was very concerned with modern television, which he thought was engaged in ‘a steady dismantling of genre’

For example in an horror trailer called Oculus here are some of the features that are recognised and used in order for audience to recognise the horror trailer and how they are used to build tension:

At the beginning of the trailer dark colours mostly black and white were used in order to give an idea of what the genre might be. But straight after that the lighting becomes lighter so did the colours. I believe that this technique was used in order to show the happy moments which gives a sense to the story and a mixture of emotions it also build the tension as the trailer is playing. Also this gave made the scene looked more real and not fake which tells the audience that this was not made up it was filmed and could come from a true story. However as the trailer moves on the lighting and colours gradually become darker. This tells us that something strange is happening and this gives a sort of intensity as the trailer goes on. At the end of the clip a lot of dark lighting and colours were used which gives something spooky and scary which is what you look for in this type of trailer. Lighting and colours were mainly used however costumes and camera shots were also used to represent horror.

In terms of costume, the director used appropriate tools in order to show the horror. For example the white/grayish eyes when the dad is looking in the mirror which produces something unnatural and is a good way of getting a bigger audience as some people like to see those kind of special effects.

In terms of camera shots, the shots that are mainly used are long and close-ups. Long shots were used in order to give the audience a clear visual of what is happening around a scene and to get and idea of who is in danger. Close ups are mainly used to show the face expressions so that the audience can feel like their are part of the trailer, but also to tell them that something wrong is going to happen, for example; when the main female character puts down her apple next the light bulb it gives the feeling that something horrible is going to happen. Then the close-up is use to show her reaching for the apple and it give a sense that she is safe and that everything is ok but then suddenly it cuts from a close-up to a mid close-up and during this time you hear broken glass. While using the close-up it made the audience believe that something was going to happen before it actually did and this created panic and tension which is one of the aspect in a horror trailer.

Micro-element were also used in order to produce a good trailer that fits its genre. In terms of sound at the beginning of the clip sound is loud like a big bang which fits in with the scene at the beginning that is tense and strange. It then fades to quiet in order to signify the beginning of the story. Throughout the rest of the clip the sound increases to increase the intensity of each scene until the end which is supposed to be the most intense moments as the audience was shown that beginning of the story and the end is where everything goes wrong. Sudden moments accompanied by a sudden sound effect used in order to add more effect.

In terms of editing short cuts were used where necessary for example at the end of the clip where the scenes are really intense, this builds even more pressure. This is one of the main characteristics of a horror trailer. They also used fade to black in order to create a link between some scenes to show the continuity between them. Furthermore a lot of flash back to when the brother and sister were young to the present. This creates confusion as now the audience does not know what is real is what is not which is the main storyline of the trailer and this also gets them involve in the trailer.

In addition to this the dialogue used is mostly questions which is a good way of making the audience raise questions among them. For example the first sentence that is said at the beginning of the trailer by the main female character to the mirror is "Hello again , you must be hungry?" This gives a mysterious feeling to the trailer as it raises questions such as why is she saying that? have she dealt with this mirror before? why is she using the word hungry? Then later on in the trailer the female character says to her brother "I found it, we only have a few days, to keep our promises and kill it" this produces a spooky and scary feeling as usually an object that is not even human is not known to put people in so much danger and that they have to use the term 'kill' likes it alive.

Nicholas Abercrombie saw the difference between the olden days horror films and the modern days horror films. In the olden days vampire, werewolves and other supernatural creature were in order represent fear whereas in today’s world vampires are represented as hot guys who can be nice such as ‘Twilight’.