Settings

We chose to have one of the main settings as a secondary school for our trailer. This is a setting that our demographic can relate to as it is something everyone has experienced and can understand. During research, we found that schools are common setting used in thrillers, for example The Gallows and Carrie. By using a relatable setting it makes it more scary for the audience as it seems more realistic and something that they could be affected by themselves. We filmed in areas of the school that included typical iconography such as lunch tables and desks to make the setting obvious for the trailer.

The field that features numerous times in our trailer is a key setting for the film. Unlike the school it gives a sense of isolation and loneliness, something which adds to the fear factor as there is nobody around to help if trouble occurs. In addition to this, the field is lined with trees and bushes, easy hiding places, which we show with long shots and establishing shots to emphasise the feeling of isolation and eeriness. The Last House on the Left, a thriller we studied in class, is set in almost complete isolation as it is mostly set in woods where there are no other people, or a lonely house at the end of a street in the countryside and next to a lake. This created fear as the audience worries that there is no help around, in addition to the fact that there was no power either.

Holly's house and particularly her bedroom are settings that we chose as it is a relatable place to create fear in the audience (as mentioned earlier). In addition to this, the inside of her house has a typical appearance to make the character and setting seem normal, and therefore this is also relatable for the demographic. Home is somewhere people associate with safety, however by including shots of Holly running away from something downstairs and the powercut threatens the sense of being safe at home, implying that it cannot keep danger out therefore creating fear. This setting is used in Carrie as it is common for thriller films to use relatable and realistic places like home as a technique of building fear and making it last after the film finishes.