Horror film trailer conventions

1. Horror Film
Trailer
Conventions

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The Conjuring 2

3. Film Production logoAs seen in many film trailers,within the first part
of the trailer, usually the film production logo
will be shown. The film’s production company’s
reputation can benefit the film trailer, or would
also raise expectations of the film as the
company would have been recognised for their
previous with many films, so it would attract the
audience as they would have high expectations
from the production company.
For example if people have seen and enjoyed
another New Line cinema film, then they may
see the logo on a new trailer and decide to
watch it because they enjoyed the last film they
created. It also creates an idea of the type of
film the trailer is trying to sell as the company
that produces the film are known largely by the
types of film they produced belonging to that
specific genre. For example as the audience will
see a Warnerbros logo and know that it will
have a big budget meaning that the film will be
produced exceptionally well, and they have a
reputation of making adventure films such as
the Harry Potter series.
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4. Film Title
The film title is a convention that is featured in
every trailer. It is featured to introduce the film
itself so that the audience knows the name and
which film it is and it is generally at the end of the
trailer. It is showed at the end of the trailer as
through the suspense and tension of the trailer the
audience's emotions are high with adrenaline
which would most likely make them remember the
name of the film based on the strong emotions
they felt when watching the trailer.
The font, colouring and backdrop of the film title
work as a clue to help indicate the genre of the
film. For example The Conjuring 2 is evidently a
horror, shown by its dark background and ominous
white font.
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5. BBFC Age
Certification
Any film released in the UK is awarded an age
certification by the British Board of Film
Classification, and the age is shown towards the
end of a film trailer. This provides a guideline for the
target audience age, for example if the film is
awarded a U certificate, it's a family friendly film,
and therefore you will get many children going to
watch it.
It also means that people younger than the age
certificate won't be lead onto think they can go
watch the film in the cinema. Film certification is
also very important because it can hint at the
content of the film. If a film has a 15 certificate, the
audience can guess that there may be moderate to
higher levels of violence, sexual scenes and bad
language, so if the audience member doesn't enjoy
that type of film, they won't go to watch it, and vice
versa they might enjoy that type of film.
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6. Sound is a key feature, they show the pace of film and genre. Eerie, unnerving non-diegetic sound are
also used in the film trailer to intensify the tension that is built up along the way creating a tense
atmosphere for the audience by putting them on edge e.g the music that makes the mood. Intensified
uses of diegetic sound so the noises that are happening in the scene have been intensified to further
heightened the fear factor. Contrapuntal sound can occur such as happy music in a scene where trror
is occurring. Foley sound will also be featured to further strengthen and sharper the sound featured in
the scene such as screams which are increased in volume and intensity to create a more dramatic
effect. Screams will be featured to alert the audience about the terrifying events happening.
Sound

7. Suburban settings are usually a suburban House or
neighbourhood . This location for a horror film makes it
more realistic to a modern audience and it makes the
audience relate to the film more.
Isolated location mainly rural locations. These are often
isolated and hard to escape from but are also cut off
from civilisation and society. Another reason that the
isolated setting is terrifying to the audience, as it makes
the events more realistic if they take place in one
location, rather than all over the place. The feeling of
being alone in a horrific situation creates tension and
has the audience in suspense. After the movie has
ended, viewers can relax with the thought that the
events in the film existed only in that one isolated
location, which is no threat to them
Setting

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Lighting
Obscuring through lighting -Unlike the other techniques, spotlighting,
underexposing, hard light, and shooting through objects and elements don't
distort or hide subjects in the image, they obscure or conceal them. This
creates mystery, tension, and suspense, because though you can see some
of what's on screen, you can't see all of it. Your eye is trying to fill in the gaps
of what it's missing and usually what you fill them in with is much scarier
than what's actually there.
Distorting through lighting -Now, uplighting, silhouette, and prominent
shadows take it a step further and produce a complete distortion of the real
world. The shadows made on faces when lighting from below don't usually
occur in nature, so it creates "instinctive alarm" to those who view them.
Silhouettes add a bit more to this distortion, because they don't give us
enough of the information we're looking for, like facial features, attire, etc.
This distortion is even more intense when it comes to casting prominent
shadows, because it plays upon the human fear of the unknown.

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Mise-en-scene
Horror iconography (e.g. blood, knives, masks, etc.) will be seen throughout
a horror trailer as this creates the link to identifying the sub-genre of the film.
Horrific imagery will also be seen to scare the audience and make them
anticipate about what will be featured in the film.Most often innocent
objects transformed into objects of evil and terror. The use of red, white
and black as dominating colours are prominent to portray the genre of the
film but also to create a deeper meaning behind the colour usage through
connotations and denotations. Jump scares are also featured as an
effective tool to scare the audience when they least expect it.

10. Social Media
A new convention of film trailers like to feature is to are website URLs, twitter 'hashtags' or accounts to follow,
or instructions to 'like' their Facebook page. This encourages the audience to find out more about the film and
also if many people are talking about the film on social networking sites word-of-mouth can become an effective
advertising campaign. The popularity of Twitter means that millions of people across the world can tweet about
a new film coming out, spreading the word and gaining the interest of millions of other people.
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