1. Horror Trailer Analysis
Lewis Brown

2. Purposes
 Trailers entice the audience to watch the film without
giving too much information away about its narrative
 To set the tone and genre of the film so audiences
know what to expect
 Creates a media hype and excitement for the actual
release of the film
 Reveal the actors in the film to the audience
 To let people know the release date and age rating of
the film

3. Conventions
Important parts of the film narrative are revealed without
giving too much away
 On-screen text that explains the storyline to the audience
 The title of the film is revealed (usually at the end or
beginning of the trailer)
 A soundtrack that fits the genre of the film (for example, a
pop track in a rom-com trailer or a sinister piece in horror)
 The name of the director is sometimes included (e.g from
the makers of…)

4. Narrative Structures
 Freytags pyramid explains that narratives usually have an
exposition, rising action that leads up to the climax and falling
action that resolves the story. This pyramid can be applied to many
films.
However I believe that trailers usually end at the climax with no falling
action which makes the audience of the trailer want to see the film as they
are left with a cliff hanger. An example of this would be the trailer for
“Curse of Chucky” where we are shown Chucky being evil and starting a
rampage, however we are not shown a resolution, the trailer ends on a
climax.

5. Genre Conventions
 There are many codes and conventions that are
common to each genre of film trailer.
 The following slides points out the common features of
each genre.

6. Comedy
 Short, sharp gags that intend to make the audience laugh
 Upbeat/clumsy music to reflect the light-heartedness of the genre
 Theatrical, happy facial expressions with unnaturalistic acting (acting
with behavior that is not common in the real-world
 Humorous clothing and other funny mise-en-scene
 Characters being put into awkward, funny situations
 Slapstick comedy (people being punched, falling over etc.)

7. Fantasy
 Epic classical music for the soundtrack
 Characters that are elves, goblins, dwarves and other fantasy races
 Locations that are mystical (such as an enchanted forest, or medieval castle)
 Extravagant make-up and CGI effects
 Props such as staffs, swords and other weapons
 Staged fighting and war scenes
 Large frightening beasts such as dragons that are produced with CGI

8. Sci-Fi
 Futuristic sound effects, such as the bleeping of complicated
machinery
 The presence of high tech equipment
 Villains such as aliens or robots
 Locations that include being in space or in a laboratory
 CGI effects such as laser beams or spaceships

9. Romance
 Everyday locations such as towns or cities
 Happy light-hearted music
 Normal, everyday people
 Kissing and Hugging
 Beautiful Women and Handsome men as the main characters
 Weddings and dates in restaurants as common locations
 Bright colours

10. Horror Auteurs
 The word Auteur in film simply means a filmmaker or
director who gives a strong sense of style to their films,
with each of their films having common elements of
mise-en-scene, sound, editing etc.
 The following slides name several horror auteurs and
state their personal style of filmmaking.

11. Wes Craven- (Last House on the Left, Nightmare on
Elm Street, Scream)
His work tends to be based around questioning reality
(possibly due to his interest and masters degree in
Philosophy); for example, Nightmare on Elm Street
involved the consequences of dreams in real life. Many
of his films also involve iconic murderous villains
(Freddie Kruger and Ghostface in the Scream films).

12. James Wan- (Saw, Insidious)
This director is best known for the gritty torture-horror
Saw franchise. His style is based on physical and
psychological torture to humans (with heavy
sadomasochistic themes). Some mise-en scene elements
that are common to his films are electro-industrial
music and well-designed mechanical traps; he wanted
the traps to have a rusty and menacing feel but still
have a look of beauty.

13. John Carpenter- (Halloween, The Thing)
He is best known for his minimalist lighting and
photography, static cameras and the use of the
steadicam. He also composes most of his own movie
scores using synthesized instruments. Hew also helped
give birth to the slasher film genre with “Halloween”;
the genre involves a serial killer who murders victims in
an unprovoked, random fashion.

14. Eli Roth- (Hostel, The Last Excorcism)
Both an actor and director, he is most notorious for
being credited a creator of the “torture-porn” or
“Gorno” genre; a genre that mainly focuses on torture
in a sexual way, although not being considered actual
pornographic material. His film-making is of a classical
style and prefers his films not to have an MTV style of
cutting, his films editing aims to go unnoticed. He also
prefers classical music in the score of his films and a
common mise en scene in his films is the use of
photographing through mirrors (present in both Hostel
parts 1 and 2)

15. Inspirational Trailers
The following slides show examples of trailers that will
inspire my horror trailer

16. Silent Hill 3D: Revelation Trailer
I like how the trailer creates a horrific fantasy atmosphere and include
instinctive fears (for example, huge spiders and fear of the unknown). I
believe the make-up is effective also, as it is subtle yet eerie,
especially on the young girl.

17. American Horror Story Trailer
Although American Horror Story is a series and not a film, I am still inspired by
its several trailers. I believe that the trailers are abstract and even horrifically
artistic but still manage to be creepy. They are so unusual that they entice
audiences to the programme (for example, one trailer is just a short clip of a
woman stabbed with pins, and another where several women are stuck to a
wall). The music is also strange and unnerving which I would like to apply to our
trailer.

18. May Trailer
I believe this trailer is effective as it uses innocent music to create an
unnerving feeling throughout the trailer. I also think the acting of the
protagonist is especially creepy and I would like to apply this type of
acting to our trailer.