This document analyzes the effectiveness of a horror film trailer and its accompanying promotional materials. The main poster features a close-up shot of the female villain to convey her threat and power, standing out against a dark background with red accents. The magazine cover and article replicate the style of film magazines through use of an interview quote, photos of the director, and complementary fonts and colors. Both ancillary materials are consistently designed with the psychological horror trailer to form a coherent advertising campaign aimed at mainstream audiences interested in similar successful films.

1. HORROR TRAILERS
EVALUATION ANALYSIS
PART TWO
BY ALEX DALTON

2. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT
AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?
Section A:
One of the key aspects within my poster is the main signifying cover image. The main villain of my trailer dominates a large
proportion of the page, using a close up, straight on shot. The villain has direct mode of address with the audience, helping to convey
her threat and power. The technique is also used within other posters such as The Exorcist (right).
Unusually the villain is female, which we would normally expect to play the victim. However it works well
with the female having long, straggly, dark hair with a contrasting pale face giving her a gaunt and
creepy look. The darkness around her eyes connotes her being dead and her crimson red lips stand out,
suggesting blood, gore and danger and also adding visual power to her image. Another beneficial side to
using a female villain/antagonist is that this strongly suggests to an audience that the genre of the film will
be a psychological horror rather than a gory one which typically features male villains.
My colours have a consistent theme throughout my ancillary texts and main product, this
helps in tying them all together as part of one advertising campaign. The main colours
consist of blacks, whites and reds. Not only are these the stereotypical colours which are
used in horror posters, but they carry particular connotations to our target audience. The black background
gives a classy and elegant edge yet still signifying the horror genre. The use of white in the text allows it to
stand out from the dark background; often the colour connotes perfection and implies this about the film
and the poster. As with The Exorcist poster I wanted to create an iconic villain, but one that we do not
normally expect. There is almost a feminist feel to the film, having a powerful – yet deadly – female killer.
The writing used within my tagline ‘The past will come back to haunt you’ also gives a strong indicator about

3. Continued…
the narrative of the film and its psychological and ghostly plot
twist. The font I used for the ‘Coming Soon’ text has been
manipulated and blurred to make it seem more supernatural as
well as adding in another font which is different from the other
pieces of text. I have added a slight texture behind the black
background to add a further indication that the film is about
paranormal events. The iconography of my poster highlights
important areas of the film, with the main picture establishing
the film’s plot mixed with a striking design that will grab an
audience’s attention immediately.
I was trying to replicate a horror
magazine which was similar in style
to tasteful magazines such as ‘Sight
and Sound’. I used generic features
of a film magazine such as a pull
quote, where the director says this is
his ‘best creation yet’. This was
intended to entice an audience into
wanting to read more, whilst also
pushing the “auteur” of Lullaby.
When looking at my magazine cover
for the invented “Just Film” based on
the real-life magazine “Total Film.” I
chose the main cover image to be a
smart casual photo of the film’s
“auteur” enhanced by a slight skull
effect on his face. This represents a
more upmarket kind of horror
magazine, aiming at a more cultured
audience than fanzines such as
“Scream”
The font for my magazine title is slim yet bold and sans-serif to
represent its more chic style, however I chose to use a more
intrusive font for ‘Lullaby’ to make the title really stand out on
the page. The font type Viper Nora is slightly distorted giving
off an eerie vibe about the film. It has missing pieces, once
again reinforcing the unsettling narrative of the film. I chose to
use three types of font in order to give visual interest to the
magazine cover, but also not to overload it with too many
different fonts. The mid-shot of the director also shows his body
language which lets the audience identify with him and the
focus on his eyes gives them a personal connection with the film.

4. Continued…
Once again I included the generic colours which are also in my poster to keep consistency and to fit into the horror genre and the
style of Lullaby. The use of vibrant red attracts an audience’s eyes instantly. Although bright colours are not generally used within
the horror genre the intensity of it offers many meanings such as danger and brings the red text to the foreground of the poster. An
example of these typical colours being used within another poster is in The Last House on the Left (below left).
Here you are able to see how the word ‘house’ really stands out from the rest of
the poster through using a contrasting red colour. The smaller pieces of text
within my cover for Just Film are red as this makes them stand out when next to
the larger white text. Other aspects within my magazine cover include incentives
and buzz words such as ‘exclusive’ and ‘plus!’ this really pulls an audience in and
is a generic feature used in many other magazines. Another magazine which
also does this is Empire (right), alterating main headings with sub-headings to
draw the audience’s attention to the cover.
Creating a coherent advertising campaign
Both of my ancillary products merge well together alongside my trailer. They all offer a
consistent look in the particular style I have chosen. The genre of my trailer is a psychological
horror which is aimed at a younger adult to middle aged audience. The use of colours are
regular throughout all of the products, the fonts are quite simplistic yet sophisticated and get
the sub-genre of psychological horror across to the audience. I tried to make the layout of
both ancillary products clear and not too messy, focussing on the film and what is being
advertised. As the trailer is primarily psychological, I thought it would be most appropriate to
give it a certificate of 15. Lullaby does not contain excessive gore or harsh violence so our
psychographic audience was predominantly mainstreamers interested in such successful
horrors as Sinister and The Amityville Horror, which both made over $60 million worldwide.