Up as a horror film By: Jamie Polson and Nadia Green

If Up Were A Horror Film:

By: Jamie Polson and Nadia Green

Here is the link to our video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNd_5BylO6g

We chose to turn the animated film Up into a horror film. We wanted to turn an innocent family friendly movie into something that was not expected.  The first thing that we did was allow for the storyline of Ellie and Carl to play. We wanted a build up, like most horror movies have. It begins to seem like an average film until the character Russell is introduced. We chose the most dramatic moments in the movie to feature in the beginning. Carl lived a happy life with his wife Ellie. The trailer showed a timeline of the life events when there became a turning point when Ellie died. The trailer showed Carl saddened by the death of his wife. We had a dark background when the words were appearing on the screen. Then we used a sound effect in between transitions to bring suspense. We wanted to focus on creaking of the door to make the viewers feel like they’re on the edge of their seat when watching this trailer. We wanted the build up to seem real and natural.  

The first thing that we did was make the background visually darker. Dark backgrounds and shadows are a staple in horror films. We wanted to make it appear that the now horrified movie provided suspense. We added emphasis on sounds such as the door creaking. This allows for a very quiet and still shot. Your focus would be on what is going to happen, sitting on the edge of your seat, which horror often does.

The next thing that we did was spliced together a sequence of scenes together of people or animals looking nervous or scared.  For instance there is a shot of Kevin (the huge bird/snipe) running across the screen. It is followed by text on the screen saying “No matter where you run…” This is supposed to make the audience get more engaged with the trailer.  It piques their interest because it makes you wonder what it is talking about and why it is so dangerous. This is followed by a clip of Carl closing all the blinds and curtains very fast and looking very nervous. There is then text on screen saying “No matter where you hide…” This emphasises how dangerous it really is and that no one is safe no matter what they try to do.  Then this is followed by a scene of Carl sitting in his armchair and settling down but is interrupted by three loud slow knocks at the door, followed by text saying “he knows where you are…” This is meant to spook the audience even more and make them feel uneasy or restless because we have now learned that we are never safe even when we think we are and have entered a state of paranoia.   Then there is a clip of Carl looking out his peephole onto the porch and he opens the door and looks around and sees Russell there even though he is in the air. This is followed by text on the screen saying “He is…” The the reason we included a peephole is because they are kind of a staple of the horror genre. Any horror film that takes place in someone's house usually at some point uses the peephole.  Then finally we hear a peak in the music and see the word “RUSSELL” on screen. This is meant to give some closure to the audience. They finally know what this mysterious thing is but they still have so many questions which is what the trailer is meant to do. They have been intrigued and now want to see the movie to find out what happens. The final thing we see on screen is “Coming to theaters October 2019”  This is very unlikely to happen but the reason I chose October is because that is the month that Halloween is in so people will be in the scary movie spirit and may be more likely to see it, so it makes a lot of sense financially.