2. Setting and location
The shots depicting the setting an location are a series of pans and tracking
shots showing a secluded and isolated road of old Victorian houses the
purpose of which is to show how isolated and quiet the setting is. This along
with the eerie atmosphere adds to the build of tension for the audience to
relate to the horror genre.
3. Costumes
The villains in the trailer are clear shown by the symbolism of the top hat and
dark clothing. Also by the fact that it is hard to make out their features as this
adds a hint of mystery and enigma to the trailer. The purpose of the costume
is to add symbolism and motif to the characters.
Every character in the trailer is depicted in the same clothes this to help
identify the characters as villains or victims, one of the characters is wearing
red and this symbolises danger and death, like a foreshadow, as she dies first.
4. Editing
In the trailer there are fades to black and fades out of black this was to cut up
each scene so that the trailer wasn’t one big chunk. This is effective in
building up tension and enigma to keep the audiences attention. This was
also enforced by editing techniques such a jump shots.
5. Introduction to the characters
In the trailer we are introduced to the villain in the child’s form first who is
shown to be “spying” out of the window, the sun disfigure her face and the
sound in the trailer adds a eerie atmosphere. We are then introduced to the
victims as they are moving into the house next door. Then we are introduced
to the villain again in the adult form where the link is made between the two
ego’s. the introduction to the characters are important as how they are
portrayed lets the audience know their identity. This is also helped by the
sound on screen.
6. Special effects
In the trailer there is a running theme of a flashing effect (in the scene
depicted above, on the title screen and the scene after the title screen) on
the scene depicted above we used an effect called blinkers from final cut, this
creates enigma and tension in the disequilibrium stage of the trailer. It links
in well with the theme and genre of horror.
7. Opening scene and genre
The opening scene sets the trailer up as it shows the location and
introduction to the characters this is important as it allows the audience to
relate this information to themselves which in turn leads to them forming a
bond with certain characters allowing them to empathise with them and this
allows an effective build of tension and enigma in the trailer to allow them to
want to go and see the movie. Which is what an effective trailer does.
The opening scene also hints to the genre of the movie, as the isolated
setting and the “peeping tom” villain, helped by the sound on screen, hints to
the audience that the genre is horror, which is important as to inform the
audience what type of film it is.
8. Text
The text that was chosen for the title screen and the story line hint texts in
between are the same so that it is consistent. This text was chosen as it fitted
in with the genre of horror, white stands out against the black background
and is can be associated with horror, good against evil, danger, and death.