2. Horror Trailer 1 – ‘Saw’
The trailer begins at a slow, steady pace, which is common in Horror trailers The pace picks
up as he trailer builds to a climax. The editing splits the trailer into clips from the film and
special effects created specifically for the trailer that deliver small snippets of information
to the audience.
The trailer uses dissolves between short clips to create a sense of confusion and horror. It is
also a technique used to build suspense. It uses a green and black colour scheme.
The editing speeds up drastically at the end of the trailer to connote the thriller element and
also to reach a peak of tension. At the end of the trailer, we hear Jigsaw’s voice
delivering what could be seen as the films tagline. The fact that it is a rhetorical question
helps to involve the audience because of the way it is almost directed the audience. This
is a good marketing technique, which encourages people to see the film. However, the
line only works in the context of the trailer. If it were used in the film it would just be
another line spoken.
Dark lighting is used to convey the genre and also leave the audience unaware as to the
events of the film. Non-diegetic sounds accompany the on screen text to give them a
more prominent impact. The font has connotations of horror, due to the ghostly lettering
and smoke effect. The trailer begins with the rating screen, which is a feature used in all
trailers.
3. Horror Trailer 2 – ‘The Devil Inside’
The Trailer starts with the traditional film rating. The subtitles of the police phone call fade in and out – creating a
sense of realism. The trailer opens with an abstract opening having text displayed on the screen showing the
information recorded by the police of a 9-1-1 call made by a woman saying she has killed 3 people and also saying
that the phone call was real, showing a brief but disturbing scene, telling the audience that this film is a record of
real events scaring them to believe that supernatural beings are real. The use of sound in the beginning scene
connotes a disturbing and unnatural feel. The diegetic sound in the scene where the characters are speaking
creates a realistic feel which helps the film seem more realistic. When the woman speaks, her voice sounds like she
is possessed which ties in with the films theme of paranormal activity. Then at the end the phone call hangs up, the
use of diegetic sound helps the audience realise that something strange is going on.
As soon as the scene ends there is some footage of women on the floor in an unnatural position in black and white
and from this it can put the audience in a uneasy position as the camera shot was a quick flash making only visible
for less than a second and also adding that the clip could have been an extract from real footage leaving the
audiences mind to wander.
As soon as the fade begins non- diegetic sound play e.g. eerie music plays through the shots. The music played
suits the horror genre as it creates an uneasy atmosphere by playing music that’s at a slow pace which is also very
eerie. Allowing the audience to wander when something will happen and also allowing the music to speed up
when something happens in a rush or something terrifying happens.
Then the next shot is introduced with a fade in with diegetic sound of the main character narrating about her
mother while being shot in a noddy shot with 3 characters listening to the women explain her story creating an
intense atmosphere.
Then quick cuts to a medium shot of a male priest, representing good over evil showing the priest religious authority
in the film by the way he is posing in the shot.
Then the priest and one of the other characters in a close up shot showing the expressions on their faces showing
how worried they actually are after the women says the word “exorcism”, reflecting on how the audience should
be feeling as well the director has done this to show how serious the subject is and wants the audience to feel the
same way the characters feel in the film as they don’t know what will happen either.
4. Horror Trailer 2 – ‘The Devil Inside’
The camera then zooms in to a picture which could have meaning, by zooming in to the picture it could mean that
the director is trying to get the audience to raise questions about this women creating more of a mystery.
The scene in the trailer is of the women travelling to the mental hospital within Rome. The way they show this is through
a number of shots like establishing shot showing the buildings where the hospital is. The next shot was a medium shot
of the women walking to the hospital and the expression on her face showed that she was worried and scared and
this means that she doesn’t know what she is to expect and if she goes she don’t know what will happen. The
following shot is a master shot of the daughter and mother being shown in the cell. The doctor and the women are in
a white hallway which connotes the feel of madness. That’s why in all films they use white rooms in mental hospitals.
The next shot is shown through the security camera as soon as the women enters the cell showing that her mother can
be potentially dangerous so they need to watch what happens. There is a close up of the woman’s cuts on her arm
this is for the audience to draw a meaning behind and for us to realise why she is in a mental unit. Then a close up of
the woman showing the same symbols scared on her arm is also scared onto the inside of her bottom lip. Through all
of these shots put together you see that the director wants you to believe that it’s not an illness she has but something
possessing her by the use of makeup and props like the cuts of crosses meaning that it has something to do with
religion which then could lead on to her trying to protect herself from demons and also through the random drawings
on her wall as well.
The next scene they decide to take the women to see a real exorcism looks like. The first shot is a wide
shot allowing to capture most of the footage in the room showing the people revealing what is under the covers
showing that have something that is so disturbing that had to hide it. The next shot is of a girl with a body in a
unnatural and impossible position to be in and the reason she is like this to show that this girl is not normal and is
possessed by some spiritual being and the idea was taken from the film ‘The Last Exorcism’ because in the film the girl
who possessed is able to bend and break her body parts to be in weird positions.
The lighting in this room is low key the reason why the director would need low key lighting is so he can
have a main focus point and also to hide things within the dark to have things pop out creating a more scarier
experience for the audience. The next shots are close ups of movement of body parts and put together using quick
cuts in the editing to create a fast pace to make the scene more horrifying for the audience
The next 5 shots are close ups of each characters face to obtain the emotion of what the characters are
feeling while the priest spoke through the 5 shots using a voice over. Having the priest say ‘I am sorry Isabella’ suggests
to the audience that there is nothing they can do to help her. In the final shot of the trailer it’s a close up of the
daughter holding her mother close to her face saying ‘Let my mother go’ and the mother says ‘you’ll die’. The
meaning of this shot is to show the affection she has for her mother and wants the demon to leave her but when the
mother says ‘you’ll die’ this says that in the end she will die meaning that death is inevitable.
5. Horror Trailer 3 – ‘Insidious’
Insidious is a physiological horror about a boy that is believed to be possessed by the devil, which is living in his
house and terrifies the rest of the family. Starting firstly with the Mise-en-scene; the house that the family lives in is
quite traditional and family orientated, this suggests that the story is going to be centred around an ordinary family
who don't usually have experiences like this. It also makes the story seem a little more real with having this type of
family. The costumes that they wear are the expected clothing for each family member. However, the colour of the
clothes are dark, so we don't expect a happy storyline.
In this trailer there is a great use of grey and blue back lighting. This a signal to the audience of coldness
atmosphere within the house. There is also a great use of shadows, creating a sense of mystery and fear. However,
at the beginning of the trailer when the family aren't living in the house there is use of natural lighting showing
happier times.
We get both diegetic and non-diegetic sound coming from this trailer. Right from the beginning we receive
diegetic sound from the scene, where a man is talking in time to a clock-timer. The timer is a sound of a heartbeat
that is played throughout the trailer, and is faint in some parts when there is dialogue. The sound of the heart beat
creates tension for the audience, because they don't know what's coming next. To make it much more effective
the trailer cleverly uses silence to portray fear, they do this between different shots. Dialogue from the film help
carry out the storyline to the audience, by the end of the trailer we have brief understanding what the film is about.
The continuity editing is very fast pace in the trailer, at the beginning it shows multiple shots quite fast and soon
picks up pace when displaying the storyline further. Between each shots it fades into a black screen where
typography will come on the screen. Close-ups and extreme close-ups are used to show the actors fear in their
facial expressions. Especially the mother, who is scared for her son - she seems to be the person that we see that
films point of view from. To add to this, panning and zoom ins are effectively used to slowly show the audience
what is happening in each shot. Movement of the camera is in handheld mode. This adds realism to the audience
and make us believe that we are seeing everything authentically through the eyes of the character.
Lastly, the typography used in the trailer focus mainly on the word 'Insidious'. It also bigs up the directors who have
directed other successful horror films. The words are in a scratched effect and blink on the screen. They also play
around with the word 'Insidious' by cutting it down to 'Is' ending up with sentence 'Is Insidious here' and 'Insidious is
