Evaluation of trailer so far

Over the past week we have been editing our trailer, putting footage together, cutting down the footage and adding effects. Effects which include music, sound effects and voice over have to complete and add a professional look to our horror trailer. We have followed our story board and planning procedure, however when watching the trailer so far, we did not feel it worked. We had built up an equilibrium showing school exams which are our emotional hook as everyone can relate but the outlook was not of a horror genre. After adding sound to emphasis this, we still did not have it. We actually have clear footage but to the extent of high standard professional horror, it was not working.

As makers of the trailer we are watching and editing this footage every day, to secure the understanding we gained an evaluation from 2 media teachers. They both agreed the trailer was not expressing horror or the plot and as a group we discussed ways to improve...

1. Change the scenes, instead of following a clear Todorov theory, this can remain with quick shots of deaths to create a sense of enigma and leave the audience questioning. In doing this, the montage of deaths could remain but we will be using our footage to a higher standard.
2. In some scenes, the visual is not as effective as the audio. A way of using the audio effectively would be to detach this and use this as an audio over a more effective piece of footage. We could use this as juxtaposing, where an exam scene would have the voice of a death. These are ideas we are planning to use to process an effective trailer.
3. Breaking down the footage, it is a trailer and the visuals should be quick shots which remain in the audience's mind. We need to gain an enthusiastic audience, not bore an audience with long scenes in a trailer.