1. Advanced Production
Initial Research – Cross Media Film Promotion (Trailers)
Codes and Conventions
Film Title: Friday The 13th. Release Date: Friday 13th February 2009.
Genre: Horror-Slasher.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKfE5NrE7K8&feature=fvst
Brief Plot Synopsis
A group of College students go and stay by a lake and discover an old children’s
camp, Camp Crystal Late, where they begin to be hunted and killed by Jason
Voorhees on what would be his birthday. Jason was a child at Camp Crystal Lake,
who went drowned when it was open.
Content of the Trailer
The trailer begins with a shot of the lake and then proceeds with the clips of the
College students going to stay at the house.
It begins with a voiceover of a woman talking about her son dying in the lake, before
conforming to horror conventions with clips of killings, non-diagetic sound and 13
separate shots from the film to link with the Friday the 13th title.
There is also a mixture of fast cuts and slow fade to black fades with screaming and
the titles at the end with leading roles in the start.
Time in Seconds of the Whole Trailer: 154 Seconds
Number of Shots: Roughly 110 separate shots (some for less than a second)
Sequence Time in Seconds/ Number of Shots=ASL: 154/110 = 1.4
Settings & Range of Locations
Interior: Car
Police Car
House
Boat
Abandoned Cabin
Tent
Exterior: Lake
Woods
Car
Boat
House
Boat
Abandoned Cabin
Camp Site
Stars & Characters
Typical characters for a horror movie: College Students, mad killer, police officers,
weird old lady (“She ain’t missin’...She’s dead”).
Producer: Michael Bay.
Director: Marcus Nispel (Directed ‘The Chainsaw Massacre’).
Stars: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van
Winkle, Derek Mears.

2. Trailer Linking with the Film
The trailer was about a group of College Students going to stay at a lake, where they
discover an abandoned camp site, Camp Crystal Lake, and one by one they are killed.
It also links in with the title because it shows you 13 seperate clips of either people
being killed or about to be killed, which conforms to film advertising by using some
of the best part of the film to get people to go and watch it. It also gives an insight
behind the film because the voiceover says that it is Jason’s birthday today, the day
everyone is killed.
Predominant Themes
Bloodshed
Horror
Slasher, Horror
Thriller
Props
Axe
Knife
Gun
Crow Bar
Police Radio
Jason’s Bed
Missing Posters
Torches
Mask
Camera Work
Very smooth on the shots when the College Students are having fun.
Shaky when the scary parts are on screen.
Long shots of the lake and when they arrive.
A lot of close ups to see the reactions.
A lot of tracking movement on the killer during the chasing scenes.
Sound
Very serious voiceover at the start about Jason and him dying.
Upbeat music during the happy scenes at the start.
Eerie non-diagetic sound when it begins to turn sinister.
Editing
There is a mixture of fast and slow scene changes.
During the killing scenes there are very fast scene changes and white flashes.
Fades from scene to scene, without blackouts, until the scary scenes are shown.
Shows numbers up to 13, showing the different killing scenes, which links with the
13th in the title.
Titles
How was titling used on the trailer, how many title slides were there? Where did they
appear in the trailer? What information did they provide.
One title slide for the age and viewing information.
4 title slides are used to introduce the director and some of the main actors.
The trailer ends with the ‘Friday The 13th’ title and all of the main production and
actors with the release date.

3. Could you tell by the style of the trailer which genre the film belonged to? How?
Yes, Slasher, because of all of the killing scenes.
Write down anything you think worked particularly well on this Trailer?
The voice over, because it begins at the beginning of the trailer saying about her son
drowning and it being his birthday, before ending the trailer with the same voice
saying that today is his birthday again.
Anything you didn’t think worked?
I think the 13 different killing scenes were too many because I think it give too many
of the good scenes away.
Is this a typical trailer for this type of film? You can only assess this by looking
at another.
Yes, however, compared to the ‘My Bloody Valentine’ the ‘Friday The 13th’ trailer is
about 60 seconds longer and shows a lot more of the scenes unlike My Bloody
Valentine.