The opening scene zoomed onto Jena's face and slowly zooming out is a reference to the shower scene in Psycho. It was just a basic tributary, as we both liked the film when we were studying it in Term 1.
Due to time constraints regarding the trailer, I (Laurence) as the editor decided to show what originally was the exposition scene into a flash montage flashback. Though it doesn't convey the message to the same effect, it establishes the killer's frenzied persona. (The montage combined with film grain was used to create a sense of deliriment and insanity)
Harsh lighting is always used on the killer to emphasise that he is the anomaly in the trailer. We decided to dual layer the voice, as Liam's voice by itself makes him sound very unconvincing as a killer - he's too cheerful. We first tried putting his voice a tone downward, and though it helped, he still didn't match his persona. Daniel offered to try a dual-layer of two completely different tone keys, and we decided to use it due to its ethreal nature. It's also a reference to the monster within the killer. One is low, but normal sounding. The other is darker and more sinister growl. By mixing the two, we create a monster, almost schizophrenic in nature.
Whenever Liam was with Kim, we decided to film him in a handy-came segment, as a tributary to The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger had a similar scene as the Joker when he challenged Batman for the first time. We did this because the killer was based off many of the Batman Universe's villains, more notably the Joker.
Costume wise, I intentionally made all the characters aside from the fiancee and the Main Detective to wear anything but white or light colours. This is a semiotic for purity in this world we created. No one is pure, none of the victims, none of the detectives, only this detective and his fiancee. Throughout the trailer, the detective begins to dress more and more ragged, eventually losing his tie and donning a black shirt to show that he too had begun to give in to the dystopian influence. Only the fiancee remains wearing white, used as a beacon for the detective - if anything were to happen to her, the detective would have nothing left. Nothing would stop him from hanging himself like the other detectives.
Why did the detectives hang themselves as opposed to being killed by the killer? It's an obscure reference to how many critics believe females being the victims gives a whole new level of horror as opposed to males. I also intended for the killer to portray the classic traits of Michael Myers from Halloween - how he only killed those who are sexually promiscuous, more so girls than boys. In today's society, girls are portrayed by the media in such a way that it's plausible for the killer to be shown as such.
The concept revolves around everyone having no names. They are nobodies, even the killer. I intended it to be this way to emulate the classic roleplay game genre in the early years, where naming your character could be possible. Naming someone gives you that certain attachment that only comes with doing so, it makes whatever happens to them much more personal to you. Hence, by giving all the characters no identity, we have given them plenty.
The camera work with the killer is much less professional than the camera work with the detective. It was somewhat intentionally done to an extent, as we had planned to show the audience the difference between the two of them. The detective lives in a world of near perfection, he has a fiancee, a steady job, and a fine house. This clashed with the killer's scenes, as he lived a life of chaos, where he only finds humour in killing.
In the aftermath scene with the fiancee and the detective, the blinds were open on the fiancee's side, while the one on the detective's was closed. This was to create a (failed) halo effect on the fiancee, while the detective remains in darkness. She is the detective's only solace of hope.
We made a lot of references to school life in Sancta Maria College, just for the sake of getting people who get it to enjoy the references, for example, "gas leak in local school" referred to the gas leak scare earlier in the year.
The words on the board are also references. For example, critics have argued that the concept of horror has always been overtly sexual in its execution, blatantly putting there. To parody this, we just put it in plain sight using the most obscure of english terminology, "satyriasis" and "nympholepsy". Also, unless you read in between the lines in the trailer, the whole thing is chaos, which is what "pandemonium" and "obfuscate" are synoptic of.
The reason why we did not focus on the game so much was because though the concept of hangman is there, by itself there is very little to it, and even more so less of a horror. That was why we decided to focus on fleshing out the world as opposed to fleshing out the game, as we believed that by fleshing out the world, only then could the trailer truly scare you. Also, we are limited by semi-primitive technology, and could not pull off the graphic nature that we needed in terms of hanging and stabbing a person.
This also is not an "in your face" type of horror, but rather more of a slow paced, classic, psychological horror, almost made in a mould similar to Psycho. Both of us believed that the "jump in your face" kind of horror has a limit to its effectiveness, and is now severely overused, even in other film genres. By having a slow build that plays with one's psychology, it makes the adrenaline moments much more impactful. We intended through this trailer to keep one on the edge of their seat, not pushing them completely into horror, but not holding them back either. By keeping it there, fear remains around the corner, but only just around the corner.
Green screens were used because we can't actually kill someone. It would be a big tragedy, and a lot of paperwork. And it may not have bode well for the media studies department if something were to go... Wrong. Full stop.
During the comfort scene, we put a voice clip of the killer talking backwards as a fun easter egg to any one who's actually willing to look for them.
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