Filming a trailer for your Haunt

[krazedklownkilla]

How do you film a trailer for your haunt this will go on the front page of our website. What all should it include? I dont have the haunt up yet But need to get a small but affective trailer up for this year any Ideas or what have you done in the past?
Thanks Fam

[HordeOfUndead]

Do you want the trailer to play as a Flash intro page or have, for example, and inserted YouTube video on the Homepage of your website?

We are definitely going to put a creative trailer together this year too. I'd say take the general theme from your haunt, film local areas, buildings, etc, that incorporate the "creepiness" into the haunt and then throw in a bunch of video special effects. And if you have past footage of actor scares, scenery, anything along those lines would pull it all together too. I've definitely seen some awesome intro videos on other haunter's sites.

My buddy and I used to make a bunch of short films with our summer cars, offroading adventures, etc. We used my Mac computer using iMovie & iDVD. Very easy to use and you'd be surprised what a good video you can have in the end even if you've never done it before.

First and foremost you need the video recorder. 720 or 1080 HD is definitely the way to go.

[krazedklownkilla]

Im going to upload it to youtube and have it on the front page of the site. I have some guys who have nice camras and can do some great editing BUT i just dont have a good vision in my head right now AND it wont stop raining to film anything???? lol

[RJ Productions]

Check the TV spots that other haunts have used. Sometimes it is better to use a concept and not actually scenes from your haunt. Keeps the intrique.

Here's a TV commercial we use:



Sets a tone yet doesn't divulge any of the scares!!

[krazedklownkilla]

I see what you mean . Now was that stuff you filmed or from other things?

[jakprintsHAUNT]

Sometimes simple is good too.

Much like the one above, we needed to make an intro video which turned into a commercial for a 3D haunt. So a whole bunch of us got together did some 3D makeup and put up black sheets and blacklights in a friend's basement (and even experimented with white sheets and spirals on drills for some added fun. The most we had in way of props with us were some fluorescent colored balls and liquids like tonic water. Then we all took turns just making wild jerky movements in front of the camera, spliced them together, took out random frames to give it that "twitchy Ring" kind of look and it came out awesome. We also concurrently did a photo shoot, and it turned out to be great for both things especially being random and in a basement. Still gotta pull them off DVD to throw on youtube.

The commercial we had done prior was just doing acting in the haunt, and I thought the basement one came out better, because in general look wise it was just cleaner...lol.


Mike "Pogo" Hach

[Brandon_K]

IMO, one of the worst things you can do is film a bunch of areas and things that AREN'T going to be in your haunt. It sets people up to expect whatever you show in the trailer. Even if it's a good show, if they don't see anything in the haunt that was in the video, they will likely be disappointed.

Try to get 2 or 3 rooms of the haunt done and use those. You don't have to have the entire place finished to shoot a trailer.

[Raycliff Manor]

I know there's another post, "Eslwarro is back" I believe is the title of the post. Definitely check them out! They do awesome work and they are priced very reasonably for the haunted attraction industry. Jason a great guy too!

Here's their website: http://www.elswarro.com/

Kel

[krazedklownkilla]

I looked at that site and they have some nice video but its to generic for what im wanting. But im sure it works grest for others and its a damn good price too!!!

We will be shooting our first part of the trailer this tues. YAY!!!!

[Raycliff Manor]

Just an FYI, they do custom work too. The video they did for us was custom. Here it is...



Have fun shooting your trailer!

Kel