making a horror TEASER TRAILER

[anisha06]

Hi , I am making a low budget horror teaser trailer for my A2 coursework. I have looked at these three films in particular so far:

The Blair Witch Project,
Quarantine
Paranormal Activity

I want this handheld effect to make the audience feel involved with the film (almost like uncut footage that has been found) BUT I don't want the trailer to seem to amateur and cheap.
Could somebody please give me some advice on some conventional elements I should include? Could someone also advise me on how to keep this balance between handheld shots and high quality shots that are informative of the narrative?

[ferretchucker]

Well if you did it as though the characters were making a video diary in between whatever was going on, then you could cut that into the trailer. Gives information on what's going on and maintains the feel.

There are little things that I always think make an amateur picture (trailer or not) seem amateur. One is background noise. Professional productions have so little background noise. In particular there's stuff like the hum of the machine, wind in the background.

Also, something that might help give it some gritty atmosphere is to subtly raise the contrast but lower the saturation.