The document discusses trailers and posters for three slasher films: Sorority Row, Prom Night, and Scream. It analyzes how the trailers conform to slasher film conventions like establishing safety before introducing horror, and using rapid cuts and music to build tension. The posters also conform to genre conventions through images of distressed women and taglines about secrets and deaths. Scream is noted as unique for combining comedy and self-awareness of slasher film tropes.

1. SLASHER FILMS

2. SORORITY ROW (2009)
TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdY3_vLc2k
The trailer like most horror films typically follows the notion of
short transitions and fast-paced rapid shots. To heighten
tension and help establish the scene the first half of the trailer
features longer takes which then develop to become shorter in
order to heighten the tension of the plot and show the gradual
deterioration of the characters as one by one they are killed.
The trailer begins with upbeat music which lures the audience
into a false sense of security that the film would be a high-
school comedy or romance, however as the prank goes wrong
it is matched with a song that says ‘we did a bad bad thing’.
The trailer and plot appears gathered up until where the boy
kills the girl for real, after which the pace picks up and there
are various inserts of the sisters becoming haunted and
screaming in flashes of black, white and red. The trailer
typically conforms to genre conventions of American teens
partying and engaging in relationships and playing
pranks, however it goes wrong. In the same way as other
slasher ‘I Know What You Did last Summer’ they try to hide the
body but soon become haunted by their guilt and role within
the death.
The trailer also challenge’s its genre’s conventions as it seems
to give away the majority of the plot and leaves little to look
forward in seeing the film as throughout the short takes and
transitions we see the majority of the scenes on how the
Sorority sisters are tormented.
The target audience for the film would be generally fans of the
slasher horror subgenre as it follows all the typical conventions
and plot threads of teenagers either during or after high school
becoming haunted as a result of a collective mistake they made
as a young group. Despite this it could be argued that the film
is mostly targeted towards teenagers rather than an older
audience as teens would be attracted to the scenes of partying
whilst there is a killer on the loose as they can imagine how the
characters would feel in a similar situation.
FILM POSTER
The film poster for the slasher film Sorority Row. The most
instantly effective part of the poster are the images
chosen, as the strip of images show the sorority sisters
looking extremely distressed. The use of these images with a
sepia tint is effective as it immediately attracts slasher fans, as
‘Sorority’ tells the viewer that the horror film takes place
within a college, which is a typical setting within the genre. In
addition to this the use of font and text with the second word
‘Row’ suggests that like in death row the teens in the Sorority
will be killed off one by one, again a similar convention within
the plot as films such as Scream. The typography under the
title contrasts well with the background of the poster as they
both use the same colour scheme of a blood-red.
The poster conforms to its genre’s
conventions as it features a haunting
tagline of ‘the sisters of theta pi are
dying to keep a secret’. As theta pi is
one of the oldest college sororities in
America, this film would particularly
appeal to American slasher fanatics
as they would be intrigued to see the
film portray the typical plot of teenager
s being murdered within shots of partying
etc.

3. PROM NIGHT(2008)
TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krNmjJpXUHU
The trailer for the film Prom Night almost instantly
conforms to what we would initally expect from a
slasher film as it starts with a camera shot framing
as an old camera recording device layout whilst
revealing shots of the teens at an American high
school preparing for prom, which is accompanied by
soft rock pop music and transitions of camera
flashes at the glamorous prom night setting, again a
typical use of mise-en-scene to lure the viewer into a
false idea of harmony and safety. The first evidence
of the haunting happens as a shot reveals the
teacher about to reveal prom king and queen a
special and almost prestigious title within popular
culture. In similar way to the film Sorority Row’s
trailer there is a turning point in which we are
introduced to the horror sub-genre fully after
establishing the story, as the music changes whilst
prom king and queen are announced and the
lighting goes off within the scene, which is followed
by flashes of black and white. After this there are
various shots round the corner of doors from killers
perspective as he stalks the young girls in hotel
room. The insert of black and white to show the past
of how teacher was arrested after becoming
dangerously obsessed with the same teen is
effective in again establishing the plot of the play
whilst frightening the main target audience of the
slasher which would be teenagers as the film’s rating
is 15. In the same way as the film Sorority Row and
various other teen slashers it typically starts with the
setting of the high-school environment and
particularly with the ‘popular’ group of teenagers at
school.
FILM POSTER
The most instantly effective thing about the poster is the use of colour
scheme as the dark blue highlights the image whilst contrasting starkly
with the red bold text typography of ‘Prom Night’. The use of the tagline
is additionally effective as it reads a ‘night to die for’ which instantly tells
the viewer the type of film it is and gives away the basic plot idea that
teens are being tormented on prom night. The phrase is also effective as
it appears to have a dark ironic tone as when events or thing are often
sought after they are described as ‘to die for’ whereas we are aware of
the ironic use of the word here as the film is of the horror genre so we
can expect murders and death. The poster
conforms to its genre’s conventions as
similarly to Sorority Row the image appears
to be fairly abstract of a woman's portrait
screaming whilst the prop of a tiara falls off
her face. For this reason the poster typically conforms to the genre’s
conventions as it stereotypically uses an
image of a woman in distress, which is often
a plot outline for many slasher films and has
lead to them often being described as
misogynistic. Consequently, this use of
image is effective in appealing to fans of the
slasher films as it conforms to the typical
storyline of American teens becoming
tormented within a high school environment
amongst partying with their friends.

4. SCREAM
TRAILER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdyugHTKPuc
This trailer for the cult American slasher film Scream is
striking and intrigues the viewer to want to watch
more, which could describe the films momentous success
within its box office release. The film starts with a long take
along of a young blonde girl home alone within her suburbia
American household, which is an immediately typical setting
for the film genre particularly as she is on the end of a
flirtatious phone call with a mystery man, however we do not
perceive her as vulnerable until a zoom shot is used matching
with the diegetic sound as ghost face tells the blonde he can
see her. This take is then followed with various quick shots
from various scenes matched with flashing transitions whilst
lightning sound effects are placed over the top, a typical use
of pathetic fallacy for any horror film however it still appears
and sounds striking. Although the film is a horror, it was the
first renown of the genre to combine comedy and mystery to
mock the cliché of the horror genre within popular films such
as Halloween, which explains why the trailer features two
long takes of girls being frightened by ghost face through the
use of prop of the phone, a typical representation of slasher
films as women as vulnerable and naïve. The trailer then
features a long take of a teenage male describing the rules of
how to survive within a typical horror film, whilst an insert of
the various characters conforming to the stereotypes is
embedded into his warning. Not only does this prove ironic
and intriguing, an interesting camera angle is used whilst the
teen describes the rules for survival, as the tv is paused next
to him on a shot of a killer holding a knife towards his head.
The typical haunting score used for many horror films is used
with a particularly sharp violin sound in many places, which
is effective despite the fact it is expected. Following this the
following inserts of ‘don’t answer the door’ and ‘don’t
answer the phone’ appear within a drop down animation and
then transform into a dripping red style of
typography, representing the typical themes of slasher
films, often of graphic stabbing and violent scenes.
.
FILM POSTER
The image is the most instantly effective thing about the poster, as
the black and white shocked face proves visually bold and eye-
catching, particularly the female characters eyes as they appear as
the only coloured thing on the poster. The use of this character is
also effective as she appears to be blue eyed and light haired, a
typical character used within the slasher genre as the first female
to die. The tagline is also effective as the white text contrasts with
the black background and the text itself hints at the fatal attraction
to horror films within popular culture, which directly attracts to
teenagers as they are often the biggest fans of ‘scary movies’
particularly watching them at gatherings. For this reason the
tagline alone would instantly market the
film towards teenagers, which is further
exhibited within the use of the character
again as the female appears considerably
young. This poster appears different to the
previous two slasher film posters as Scream
was one of a kind of the comedy and horror
genre within the 90’s and was considered
unique at the time of its release for featuring
characters who were aware of real world
horror films and openly discussed the cliché
that Scream attempted to subvert, unlike
Sorority Row and Prom Night.