Research: Deciding on Titles

When originally planning the storyboard for our teaser trailer, only the film name of 'Captured' and the possible release date was going to be shown. However, after much research, I concluded that many Slasher horror trailers include other enigmatic titles throughout, such as 'Saw' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2013)'. 







Examples of Titles from 'Saw' trailer.

Examples of titles from 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2013)' Trailer.

Deciding on the Name:

We decided to name the slasher horror film 'Captured' as it is a pun, making it a catchy film title and effective in attracting the audience. Since the plot of the film is based heavily around video recordings, we picked 'Captured' as it can mean to be captured (kidnapped), a theme of the trailer, but also to capture an image using a camera. The two work together really well yet still adhere to common representations in terms of slasher horror film names often being one word. 

Our Own Titles:

From this research, we then began brainstorming ideas for possible titles to be included in our own trailer; we decided to use three titles to adhere to the 'Rule of Three', which many different genres of film adhere to also. The titles that we considered using after the initial planning stage are included below (in chronological order):

• Some people record their memories...
• Some people record their work...
• And then there are some people who record their hobbies.

Once we drafted these into the trailer, however, the titles did not create the effect desired as they did not create much suspense or dramatic irony for the audience. For this reason, we changed the word 'record' to 'Capture' to coincide nicely with the title of the film. We also decided to shorten the length of the third title as we felt that it was too long and lacked tension. Below show the final titles we used in our teaser trailer:

• Some People Capture their Memories...
• Some People Capture their Work...
• But I Capture My Hobbies...

As evidence above, we decided to also change the third title to be in first person rather than third, to coincide with the idea that the killer uploads the videos of himself torturing the victims to an online blog. Additionally, making the titles into first person creates a sense of realism for the audience, making it as though the killer is talking to them and targeting them specifically, which creates further tension for the audience during the trailer. 

Evaluation:

Including titles into our trailer meant that it conformed to more common conventions of Slasher horrors, allowing for a more professional looking trailer. In many media related and literary pieces, the rule of three is used for dramatic effect; for this reason, we chose 3 title pieces and, in my opinion, the overall effect is rather successful. Additionally, the use of a pun for the title was another innovative decision, enticing the audience to watch the film and making the trailer, or name, more memorable. Due to this, the trailer creates the effect and atmosphere desired, proving the trailer is highly effective and professional looking.