Essay for a horror project.

1. Daniel Finlay
Media Horror Project: Task 3
Trailers – What are they and why are they used?
A trailer is a form of media, created by the makers of a certain film that may be
upcoming in the near future, that is used to publicly advertise their idea for the film
to the audience who wish to view it, publishing small clips of the film side by side, no
necessarily in chronological order, explaining minor bits of the story to everyone,
while also keeping the audience who are currently watching intrigued in what they’re
watching. The editors of the film will usually be told to make the trailer so that it can
be used on many forms of the internet, and can be posted over things such as social
media to gain the trailer more popularity, therefore, increasing the views it gets, and
possibly increasing the amount of people that wish to go and see the film.
Conventions of trailers
There are many conventions to movie trailers which are used to
grab the audience’s attention in numerous ways. Firstly,
something such as the logo for the company appearing before the
trailer starts so the audience can help anyone identify who the actual
makers of the film are, so that if they watch the movie and find it
enjoyable, they know what logo to look for next time. In addition, minor parts
of the story will be provided to the audience, so that they can be
provided with a base of what they are going to watch. If they do
not know anything about the story, what is the point in them
going to watch it, as they don’t know what to expect? It also needs
to provide a desirable, memorable, identifiable title to the
audience. This helps the audience connect with the movie if it has
a likeable title, and can also help them identify the movie clearly if
they’re outside the house (noticing it within posters, billboards, etc.), or even if
they’re on social media, and see someone post about it. Talking of social media,
social media is a very important thing for film companies when
attempting to publicise their film. People that use social media daily
will end up seeing the trailer (if it’s promoted enough) by people
who either like it, share it, or tell their friends to see it, which
eventually ends up broadening the films audience. Within the trailer,
we need to be provided with identifiable characters that we know
will be either part of the main story, or will be a part of the film at
least, which is used in something such as the Harry Potter trailers.

2. Daniel Finlay
This is so that when the film starts and we see the characters, we immediately know
their faces, can understand who they are, and connect with them quickly. The music
is also a big part of the trailer, as it either helps to set the tone of the trailer (dark,
scary, happy, emotional), or helps keep the cuts well edited within the trailer, as cuts
are usually made on the beat of the song within the trailer. Finally, when the end of
the trailer finals appears, unless it is a teaser trailer (which is normally only half a
minute long), we are provided with the age range of the film and the credits /
credentials of the film. These can help the audience understand what type of people
should be watching the film, what content will be in the film, and can tell the
audience when the release of the film is.
Todorov’s Theory of Equilibrium
Todorov’s theory is that during a narrative structure, there should
be a start of peace, a simple time, something that the characters
can currently be happy with at that moment in time. However,
there is then occurs a disruption within the story, affecting the
characters current situation. They then have to find a resolution to
the problem at hand, which will restore the story to the state it
was at the beginning, or at least something similar. This is used in
a lot of films, stories, and much more to help slowly, yet gradually,
progress the story in many ways. As well as this, trailers for films
use this quite a lot to try to intrigue the audience, but in a subtler
manner so that they do not give away the whole plot of the story,
otherwise the audience will know too much.
Do these conventions link totrailerscorrectly?
There are so many trailers around now a days for so many varieties of movies,
whether different producers, different genre, different style overall, and much more,
so I’ll be taking four trailers to help show me if these conventions link correctly.
These trailers will be Kong: Skull Island, Rings, and I will also be looking at a variety
of other films from different genres to show how they use these conventions in
different ways.

3. Daniel Finlay
First of all, the logo, or an identifiable one at that. Kong’s trailer starts with
immediately showing the logo of the company who have produced the film. They
also attempt to make the logo fit in with the film, including its era, as it portrays a
projector showing a slideshow, so it makes the picture for the logo more old-
fashioned, putting it in a slideshow box, and making it more graded that usual. This
contrasts with the usual logo that is used to portray the company, Warner Bros., as it
is more modern and clear-cut.
This type of portrayal of the logo is also used within the trailer for Rings, as the
company that have produced that film, Paramount, have a horror take on their logo,
and have a ring around the outside of their logo, which obviously links to the name of
the film. This technique is used within both films to help the audience notice the
theme of the film at hand, and tries to connect the producing company more with
the film.

4. Daniel Finlay
On the other hand, the two other films, Logan and Get Out do not necessarily use
different forms of their original logos, and just stick with their original logo. This
could be because of the fact that Get Out, while a scary film, takes on a serious
agenda of racism within the world as well, and his highly coveted for it, and Logan,
while an intense, action film, is trying to portray its story seriously. Kong tries to
portray its story seriously as well, but their beginning is quite light-hearted and up-
beat, and while Rings is a horror film too, it’s made to be more enjoyable, and
doesn’t have an agenda to the film, and is made to scare and entertain
As well as this, all of the titles have a special, unique theme about them, which is
used to grab the audience’s attention so that it can be memorable and so that it can
stick out when out anywhere else, such as on posters, buses, and even on forms of
social media. A title is made so that it sticks out and relates to the film, so that when
you see the title in a different place from where you watched the trailer, you will
notice it, and it may intrigue you, making you want to know more.
First, the title for Kong is old and rusted almost as if it has been there for a long
period of time, which is like the tale of Kong himself. It also has the theme of the
native people that live on the island that Kong occupies, as within the trailer, there is
white writing on the wall all about Kong, so it links well to the theme of the film.

5. Daniel Finlay
The title for Rings also clearly relates to the film, as there is a ring surrounding the
writing of the film title, linking the name to an image. The writing within the title is
also very child-like, so links to the fact that the spirit, Samara, is only 12 years old in
the film, therefore, would not have very good writing. This also uses the innocence of
the child within the title right from the get go, showing how there are many
messages within the title to link to the film.
The Get Out title has a strange theme around it. The film itself is very mysterious, so
when it shows the antlers of the animal that seems to attack the main character in
the trailer; it makes you wonder what it has to do with the purpose of the film. As
well as this, the word “GET” is the colour white, while the word “OUT” is the colour
black, once again, attempting to link the differentiation between the two races again
due to the fact that some of the plot of the film does seem to focus on the
differences between the races.

6. Daniel Finlay
On the other hand, the title for Logan is very simplistic, and just states the name of
the film in big, bold white letters for the audience to see. However, being simplistic
may prove to be a good thing as, as due to the boldness, tends to stick out more than
most titles, and due to the fact that there are numerous other films within this
branch of Marvel, such as all of the X-MEN films and more, many already tend to
know what the film is about. However, to newcomers to the series of films, they may
not be as interested as it will not really stand out that much due to its blandness.
The age range is very important for all of the films, as it helps the audience
understand whether they should technically be watching it. There are many concepts
to age certification within film production, such as the bands (green band and red
band) and the age certification for films, which is the BBFC (British Board of Film
Classification). This identifies the age range that should be watching the film by
looking at multiple factors, such as violence, drug use, sexual content, and much
more, and ranged from U (Universal) all the way up to 18, and even then, there are
multiple forms of 18 ratings, such as 18A per example.

7. Daniel Finlay
Kong, for instance, is a 12A. This is because it includes a lot of violence, because
there are weapons being used by the army, which the film puts a heavy amount of
emphasis on, and there is also frequent swearing within the film. Therefore, people
of the age 12 and under may watch the film, as long as an adult accompanies them at
the time of screening.
Rings, on the other hand, is a 15, most likely because it is a horror film and may
frighten an audience younger than that a bit too much. Most horror films tend to be
15’s or over, due to the jump scares within them, or even the violence and gore.
Films such as this are intended for an older audience, and usually do not cater to
much to the younger audience.
Helmetsand
shovel are used
here to signify
deathwithinthe
currentsituation
Sceneslike thismay
distressthe viewer,
whichiswhyit has a
higherBBFCrating

8. Daniel Finlay
A movie such as Pulp Fiction, however, has many aspects within the film to be an 18
rated film. There are many violent scenes where people are visibly shot and killed;
there are multiple scenes that include drug intake, such as the infamous scene in the
film where one character, Vincent, stabs a needle straight into the heart of another
character to save her life after in taking so many drugs. There is clear sexual content
in addition to that stated before, so the film essentially has every aspect to be rated
an 18.
Finally, a film such as The Secret Life of Pets is clearly going to be rated a U, as it’s a
film that is intended for kids, and therefore, anyone of any age may watch the film. It
has no violence, and may include some rude / adult humour, but nothing too much
so that it will not be intended for children.
Many companies tend to attempt to promote their film through the advertisement
of it on forms of social media. They use this form of platform to attempt to advertise
their films because so many people use social media now, especially within the
teenage range, and most films are targeted at the age range of teenagers. This then
helps their movie gain more popularity than it would without the use of social media.
They also tend to use social media to try and grab the viewers attention, and also to
keep them up-to-date with the film, whether it be more trailers, activites to connect
the audience with the film, and much more.

9. Daniel Finlay
Many films tend to have the forms of social media that they use at the end of the
trailer so that the audience can then search them up and follow them. This helps the
audience learn more about the film, and also helps the producers and makers of the
film gain more popularity, therefore, helping the film grow and make more money.
This is used well in the trailer for Wonder Woman¸as they use almost all forms of
social media to try and promote their product.
Another thing that companies do is create websites for the movie at hand that they
are making. This is so that people can search up the website and will be able to look
up the details for the movie while being provided with much more information about
the film than they ever would in a trailer. This can be done over multiple genres, and
is done in horror films like Rings, and also in kids films such as Coco.
Finally, a lot of films tend to use hashtags in their trailer so that people can search
the hashtag on a platform such as Twitter. This allows the people on that platform to
search it up, see what people have to say, and make their own comment on it as
well. This is used in films such as Kong and Spider-Man: Homecoming, so is mainly
used in teenage films as it is aimed at teenagers who use the platform.

10. Daniel Finlay
The release date is also a huge factor to take into consideration when releasing a
film. The release date of a film usually links to what type fo genre the film is, and also
what type of people would watch the film.
Mainly, horror films such as Rings are released during the later period of the year,
mainly around Halloween time, due to the fact that Halloween is considered a scary
time of year. For example, apart from Rings, another horror film released around
Halloween is Ouija: Origin of Evil. They tend to have these release dates around the
halloween time to get the audience more pumped for the movie than they normally
would.
Love films tend to be released around Valentine’s day, due to the fact that either
many couples want to see a love film around this time or because, as Valentine’s day
is based around love, people will be more in the mood to watch a love film,
therefore, boosting sales. A film like this that released nearer Valentine’s Day was
the film (coincidently) Valentine’s Day, which came out 2 days before Valentine’s
Day.

11. Daniel Finlay
Kids films tend to be released during school breaks, such as half terms and even the
end of a school term overall. This is so that when the kids aren’t at school and
focusing at work, they’ll be free to watch anything that they can, therefore, the film
will get more of an audience. An example of this is Finding Dory, which is a highly
anticipated kids film.
Within trailers, there is sometimes credits towards the end to inform the audience
about who will be in the film, who directed it, and much more. This gives the people
who participated in the making of the film the credit they deserve, although it does
not happen as often as it used to. Some films that have this are Alien: Covenant and
Passengers. This includes the name of actors, producers, directors, and more,
helping get their name out there more, and if anyone seems to like the work that
they do within the movie, may look them up and may even watch more of their
movies. It is a cycle eventually ends up gaining more and more people popularity
within the industry, whether it be actors, directors, or others.

12. Daniel Finlay
Finally, sound and music is a huge part of the trailers, and helps the audience
connect with the current situation in the trailer. If the mood is happy, there will be
jolly, calming music, while if it’s an action movie, the miusic may be intense. The
sound usually matches the beat of the music within the trailers and helps connects
scenes together well, and helps esentially make a montage for the trailer if it’s
something such as an action movie.
For Kong, the atmosphere of the film starts of in a
jolly mood, the music being up-beat, most of the
characters within the film looking happy, there’s a
sense of equilibrium, relating to Todorov’s Theory.
The music is used as war-music to pump up the
soldiers going on to the island, used to make them
feel invincible, almost unstoppable even. However,
when the helicopter is hit, the music instantly stops
and an almost siren-sounding noise is instantly
played, showing the signs of clear danger. The siren
continues to go as long as there is trouble within the current scene, and when the
helicopter falls, there is a hear-beat sound used to synchronise with the blades of the
helicopter in slow motion, showing it falling, and linking to when people have
traumatic experiences, life tends to slow down temporarily so you can take
everything in.
There is a lot of synchronous sound within the trailer,
such as gunshots being fired, grenades exploding, water
rushing, all so that the trailer is realistic, as if it did not
synchronize with the actions it would not be
professional. Asynchronous is not used as much within
the trailer, and is not used that much in general within
trailers due to the fact it may confuse the audience
about the current scene being shown. However, there
can be a form of it faintly heard towards the end when
there is a conversation with birds chirping being heard within the background of the
scene.
Within Rings, however, many of the scenes shown from the movie in the trailer are
pulled straight from the film, with music being used on slightly over the trailer during

13. Daniel Finlay
some periods. This is because they want the audience to hear more of the authentic
sounds from the film, such as the creaking sounds within the trailer.
The music is used within the trailer to attempt to
shock the audience who are watching the trailer, such
as when something happens, you’ll hear the start of a
snippet of music, or even something such as a loud
bang. This is mainly used syncronously with the visuals
to match them, and this tends to be the case with
horror trailers and films in general, as the visuals need
to match the audio in horror films to put fear in to the
audience.
A lot of sound is diegetic within the trailer, as it’s msotly people talking to one
aonther and doing something else, such as pulling items, furniture smashing and
more. As well as this, although the demon within the film isn’t necessarily seen, you
can still hear her whispering continously ‘7 days…’, and the characters can hear it
too, meaning that it is diegetic sound heard by the characters.