Research into Trailer Conventions

In this blog post I will be looking at four different recent horror movie trailers and analysing them on different topics:

This is the trailer to the 2013 remake of 'Carrie':

• Monstrous feminine - seen in overbearing mother and the use of blood
• Male gaze/voyeurism - shown in the girls in bras and pants, watching Carrie in shower 
• Binary Opposites - natural and supernatural etc.  
• Enigma code - the questions the audience may ask are 'where do her powers come from?' and 'Who will survive?'   
• Equilibrium -  it begins with a abusive mother daughter relationship (equilibrium) and goes on to follow the other stages such as when Carrie gets her powers (disruption) 
• This film comes under the theme of supernatural/paranormal horror 
• The main lead in this film is female (Carrie) 
• The movies main action takes place in a school, this gives the teens in the audience a direct connection to the film 
• I enjoyed this trailer and feel it shows many theories and convincingly portrays the film    



This is the trailer to the 2016 film 'The Forest':

• This  movie is based on a true story although the viewer does not know this till the end of the trailer, when a search bar encourages the audience to search the real story 
• The title cards are used very effectively as they directly address the audience, and use a background that suits the aesthetic of the trailer 
• The use of the echoing dialog ("your not real") and whispers ("Sarah") gives a frightful tone 
• There is a shower shot of Sarah that uses voyeurism  
• The setting is a haunting, paranormal suicide forest 
• This film is lead by a female 
• Overall I think this trailer was effective in it's use of sound and text but the theme is not one I enjoy  

This is the trailer to the 2016 Ouija: Origin of Evil:

• This trailer uses cantered angles and odd camera shots to draw the audience in 
• It builds tension well by using false jump scares and edgy climactic music 
• The use of religious iconography is used to show the power of the evil (the cross)
• As the trailer comes to the end a fading echo of "It's just a game" can be heard
• The trailer shows a young child being the villain in a house setting, this directly effects the audience as these thing are common to them
• The trailer begin by using a false jump scare, then changing to a light heated tone before going back to a paranormal vibe
• This film also has a a female lead - the villain is female along with two other central characters
• I think this trailer works very well to show elements of the film without spoiling too much

This is the trailer to the 2016 'Blair Witch':

 

• This trailer uses around 60 shots and goes in and out of shots based on the narration 
• The traditions are mainly fade to black's or jump cuts
• The duration of the shots get quicker as the trailer reaches the end, making it more climactic 
• Multiple establishing shots of the forest are used along with many hand held shots
• Cantered angles and close ups are used to throw the audience off and create confusion
• The trailer begins with one of the male leads looking into the camera making his dialog feel more directed to the audience.
• This film has a mix of female and male leads
• Overall I think this trailer shows the story line of the movie well and causes viewers to be on the edge of the seats

I will be evaluating my finding in my next blog post.