Research-Oujia

Oujia is an American made supernatural horror film directed by Stiles White. Oujia was written by a pair of writers who had previously created another popular American horror film called "The Possession" meaning they have experience in incorporating horror conventions into their films. Whilst Oujia was also a box office success grossing over $102 million on a $5 million budget, we felt this would be a great film to analyse to work our what contributed to the success of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T1Jj1inE8M

Plot

The film follows a narrative based around the investigation into the sudden and shocking suicide of a girl, by her best friend. After beginning the investigation alone she decides to seek help from other friends who are also curious about what happened for their friend to kill herself and they begin to unravel the mystery of the death. The investigation leads them to realise that the Oujia board that they have been using was evidently the cause for their friends unexplainable suicide. At this point the plot begins to incorporate supernatural horror elements as unexplainable events begin to occur and they have to figure our how to overcome the board before it comes for them. 

We know that the element of shock is a major factor when making a successful thriller/horror trailer because it is a useful tool to grasp the audiences attention within a short time. Therefore this stereotypical feature is used within the first 26 seconds of the trailer as we see the death of the girl who committed suicide, usefully this also conveys the narrative to viewers that aren't already aware of the cause for the investigation. Having such a shocking low angle shot early on in the trailer is effective as it has the audience intrigued with what else is going to happen if something to this extent happens in the first 26 seconds.

We also see a similar feature before this which builds up to the death. It is simply a mid shot of a girl with a focus pull onto a door opening. However it invokes a "fear factor" for the audience as it is unclear of what caused this to happen, emphasising a fear of the unknown for the audience. This conveys the fact that something is quite right from very early on and essentially reflects the genre of this horror film in the trailer.

The production company logo is also seen directly after the shock of the girl hanging herself. This is a typical feature to have in a trailer however the fact it is directly placed after that shot in particular links the company with having strong horror links. This is important because Universal work with a wide variety of genres and having this link suggested it is the right production company for the film. Further to this due to the extent of Universal's work they have a very large fan base, therefore showing the production company logo in a prominent position is going to be more clear to the audience and hopefully attract a larger audience and gain a larger consumer rate than they might otherwise have. 

 After the shot of the girl hanging the use of very quick cuts between several pictures are used as seen below. This effect is used on 3 several occasions and this is the example of one of them. As you can see the images are all black and white which conveys their old origins, interestingly this often insinuates a fear in the audience as the old is essentially using a fear of the unknown. The shots are also based around the Oujia board as seen below. The fact this is showing they game has been around for so long only further heightens the fear for the audience as it creates a sense of realism is this supernatural and dangerous cult game.

There is also a good use of intertitles as seen below which also work off the basis of incorporating fear in the audience, using the Oujia board as a catalyst for this. For example as discussed the fact the game has been around for years shown from the photos is also emphasised by the intertitle which says it has "existed for centuries", once again using this fear of the unknown. Further to this the intertitles are effective because of their post-production editing as they have used a fade between to different shots, the second being a dark background which essentially reflects the importance of the text, for me as an audience this furthered my engagement in the trailer.

The true focus on the whole trailer is on the Oujia board which is important when using no well known actors like in this film, which will be the case for our trailer as well. This is because they can't use the star power that other trailer use which is showing lots of shots of a famous actor, a technique that often attracts large audiences. However it is clear in the trailer that the film's focus is on the Oujia board and this is important for the trailer to convey.

Similar to a large majority of other trailers from all genres Oujia have conformed to the stereotypical convention of having the last shot as the film title, which in this case takes up the whole screen. I found this effective as it is the last thing to see from the trailer therefore making it most prominent in your mind, essentially you need your audience to remember your title therefore this is a great technique to do so.