Trailer conventions

'Devil' horror trailer. The film was realised on the 17th September 2010 and is about how five people get trapped in a lift and one person is not who they seem. It is directed by John Erick Dowdle and the stars are not well known so the film would sell purely on the director or contents/genre of the film. This trailer follows typical trailer and horror conventions. Once they get stuck in the lift and the disequilibrium begins, the scene gets very dark and the editing gets jumpy, telling the audience that the genre of the film is going to be horror. The name of the movie is presented at the end of the trailer in red writing against a black background, both of which support the genre of the film. There are no well known actors in this movie, but it is odvious by the trailer that special effects are used as some shots shown in the trailer could not be achieved natually. I think the target audience for this film would be young to middle aged adults as I think that it would interest this age group the most because people are more tolerable and enjoy horror movies more at this age then any other. All of the characters in this trailer are strangers to one another, which allows for secret identities for the plot to unfold. This makes the characters afraid of one another. The mood of the film seems to be intense and dark, which fits the character feelings and attitudes at the time of the plot peak. The only real aspect that the trailer shows the audience is the results of an unknown force. By keeping the force from us it makes us eager to make the unknown known, and makes us want to see the full film. There is no voice over in the trailer but we can hear convosations between the characters over the soundtrack in places. The soundtrack is intense and creepy. We can also hear the sounds from objects, such as the noise of the lift breaking down and the beeping of when a lift changes floors. There is also screaming from who we assume is the main female lead, which adds to the audiences anticipation. We see some inter-titles to explain some of the background to the plot, for example at the beginning we see some writing set upon a background of an unside down city. It is light and a wide open space, which is the opposite to where the plot leads. The inter-titles go down the same route as the plot and turn dark, with red writing against a black background. The characters are in a big city but isolated in a tiny, dark lift. The aspect of shadows are used in some shots but not excessively. The characters are nearly always in the centre of the shot, telling the audience that they require our attention, as they drive the narrative rather then concentrating too much on the surroundings.

'The Grudge' horror trailer

The Grudge was released on the 5th November 2004, and was followed by three sequels due to its success. The main female role was given to Sarah Michelle Gellar who appeared in The Grudge one and two. Her name is a huge selling point for the film as she is a very well known actress. The genre of the film is obviously horror as at the very beginning of the movie there are inter-titles and the background they are placed on is creepy and so is the soundtrack. The editing is also slow flashing, so the audience see's one shot of the busy city, then it goes black and changes to a shot of people walking across a road and then after another black wipe we see the house. This allows the audience to get a quick taste of the surroundings and leaves us wanting to know whats going to happen, and what the significance of these shots are. We can also hear key sentences that the main characters say, to help set the scene of mystery and suspence. This editing continues through the rest of the trailer, it is jumpy and keeps up with the rhythm of the plot. The inter-titles also reappear regularly throughout the trailer on the same creepy background that contrasts the colours, white, blue and black and appears to be flowing. The name of the film is presented near the very end of the trailer on the same kind of background as the inter-titles along with Sarah Michelle Gellar's name, proving she is a big selling point. I think that the target audience for this film would be young adults from around 17-25 as this is the typical age range of people that enjoy horror movies. Also I think this film would apply to fans of Sarah Michelle Gellar. There are quite a few characters shown in this trailer but it is obvious that the main character, also known as the final girl is Sarah Michelle Gellar, as she is focused on the most, but the trailer does not give any clues to the character relationships. The only two characters that were shown where there role in the film is obvious was the final girl and the monster. The trailer shows the monster in several situations where it is haunting or taunting the other characters. They create illusions like the hand coming out the the head of the main girl at the time of 1:18 into the trailer which proves that certain scenes within the film would have to have been achieved using special effects, but the majority of the trailer can be done without special effects. The close up of the eye at the time of 1.11 in is very effective as it shocks the audience and is in my opinion an excellent shot, especially with the reflection in it. It shows how the monster would see the man, of of his scared facial expression. The trailer makes the audience ask questions about how the monster came about and how the main girl got involved with the house and monster. This is good as it encourages the audience to go and watch the film, so the trailer fulfills its purpose. The soundtrack consists of spooky music with strange sounds to match what is going on onscreen with some occasional screaming.
There is no voice over but the voice of the main female (Sarah Michelle Gellar) can be heard over the soundtrack in several places saying lines from the movie. From the trailer we as the audience can tell that the house hold high significance and is probably where the majority of the movie is set. The house is an aspect of isolation and from the trailer seems dark, both of which are typical conventions of the horror genre. The use of shadow seems to be used quite alot to create a eerie look and is a clever use of lighting from the creators of the film. The colours white and black are used quite alot within the trailer, white signifying death and ghost like features which we can see by the whiteness of the monsters faces and black signifying darkness, fear and suspense. The main theme would be the fact that the story is set around a curse as this sets off the narrative.

'The unborn' trailer

This film was released in 2009 and is about a girl named Casey who starts to have hallucinations of dogs with masks, an unborn child and a strange,scary looking child. This is the start of a scary route of discovery for Casey as she discovers she was a twin and that a deadly spirit is slowly possessing her, convincing her that her dead, unborn brother wants to be born now. She goes in search of a rabi to perform an exocism to get rid of this evil spirit once and for all. The genre is obviously horror as the trailer is full of quick editing shots showing the audience shots of the 'monster' figure and the reactions and results that he causes to the main female protaganist. The soundtrack also supports this. The name of the movie is displayed near the very end of the trailer, it is displayed on a white, bordered by black background with a shadow on the left hand side of the screen behind the white background, suggesting it could be a window or something similar. There is a heartbeat sound played along side the title shot. The names of the creators of the film are displayed briefly at the very end of the trailer, suggesting that there are no known directors or producers involved with the making of this film. There are quite a few characters shown within the trailer, but the only character that we as the audience that we actually know their role in the film and anything about is the final girl, Casey who the camera and narrative focus on the most. We also see her father, a older women who we assume is a relative or close friend of the family, a male friend or boyfriend, a girl who we see as the best friend of the female protagonist, the people we assume are connected with the exocism and the monster. The mood of the film, like most horror movies goes from light to dark throughout the progression of the narrative. The protagonist is asking questions throughout and shows her fear through her facial expressions and body language. The trailer keeps the audience on the edge on their seats by showing fast, flashing images and by having a suspenseful soundtrack without revealing anything about the plot. To begin with the scene is quiet appart from the main girl talking on the phone and then we hear a thump and a sightly creepy childs voice over the baby monitor. This sets off the narrative and causes Casey to go upstairs to investigate. There is a quiet spooky soundtrack that adapts and changes to the situations happening on screen. For example, when the young boy hits Casey with the mirror there is a loud bang on the soundtrack. It is very effective in creating suspense and getting across the characters fear to the audience, making the trailer more intense. There is no voice over in the trailer, only quotes from the characters of the film.  Inter-titles are used very little in this trailer as they are only used slightly near the end, three in total, as they advertise when the film is out on the cinema, the title of the film and the line 'He wants to be born now'. There is no isolation within buildings or space in the trailer, but the best aspect of isolation would be the fact that anyone connected to Casey seems to get hurt and killed, which would leave her alone. Caseys eye which is changing colour seems to be relevant within this film as there is more then one extreme close up on the eye, and we also see her at a kind of eye specialist, diagnosing what is causing the eye to change colour. The line 'By living you denyed in entry into our world' suggests that the protagonist is cursed and has many secrets to discover before she can fully understand her situation.

I worked with John Flinton on this post