The document discusses conventions that are commonly used in horror movie trailers to scare audiences. Some key conventions mentioned include using suburban household settings to prey on audiences' fears of their own homes being invaded, including "jumpy moments" of scares to make the trailers more memorable and effective, and employing horrific imagery to further frighten viewers without showing too much that would prevent them from seeing the full movie. Mise-en-scene, lighting, costumes, fonts and other stylistic elements are also discussed as important conventions that help set the tone and tell the narrative in an engaging way for audiences of horror film trailers.

1. Many horrors share the same conventions, which can be identified by the target audience. The
conventions allow the movie to fit into the horror genre as they commit to the norms. All of which
add to scaring the audience step by step, inducing them into the fright filled film. Mise en scene
being a key factor towards each horror film, as attention to detail can either make or break a film.
For example towards the beginning of The Possession trailer, Em's at a yard sale. The mise en scene
allows the audience to follow the story line, due to the props and scenery in the background being
houses, front lawns and conventional items you would expect to witness at a yard sale such as
mirrors, old jewellery boxes, chairs etc. Effectively displaying to the audience the narrative of the
movie. However, if this mise en scene was not here the
scene would become much more confusing to the audience
and questions would begin to gather: 'where did she find a
box? Just in front of a house? That is not realistic at all'
causing the film as a whole to be seen as a 'joke' due to
poor attempt of realism.
A main convention that occurs in almost every supernatural horror is the suburban household; this
features in Insidious, The Conjuring, and The possession. But does not feature in The Devil Inside.
The purpose of using this suburban household for the stock location is to prey on the audience's
fears, to allow the feeling of insecurity to feed on the audience, as the comfort that they would have
of their households has been aggressively snatched away from them. Whereas if the setting was in
for example a mental institution (such as The Devil Inside) the audience wont initially become
frightened, as the institution is not somewhere they spend all of their time, not a place that their
comfort would be situated in. The Conjuring has a typical location, of a suburban household that is
deserted as there are no other houses around. Portraying to the
audience that there are no other beings around, further displaying
that the safety element has been stolen from the characters
immediately. In addition to this, connotations of a ‘deserted house’
immediately allow the audience to feel sorrow for the characters as
they will instantly expect the house to be intruded with evil spirits or
a physical disturbance. This establishing shot sets the scene for the
audience, by showing the stock location, which also unveils where most of the action will take place.
The ambient lighting, creates a natural environment, ironically making the audience feel
comfortable, this comfort is not long lived as the setting demonstrates that normality is about to be
disrupted, leading the audience to await a frightful disturbance of peace. The suburban house
setting is common, within horrors and is the convention that many choose to obey. The Possession,
Insidious and The Conjuring all include all revolve around a suburban household, destroying the
audience’s perception of a ‘perfect home’ to be in the suburbs.

2. Intensified uses of sound are again common within many supernatural horror trailers.
Another common convention that is portrayed throughout the trailers that i have studied is ‘jumpy
moments’. The effect of this convention is to continuously fright the audience whilst watching the
trailer, as well as this by having jumpy moments a trailer inevitably becomes much more effective,
due to its memorability : ‘ have you seen ‘The Conjuring trailer? The last sting scared me so much! I
have to go and watch the film’. This sting is featured at 2.10 in the trailer and leaves the audience
with a finale scare in order to fulfil their aim to grip the viewer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k10ETZ41q5o The final sting in The Possession trailer is at 2.15,
this sting has a different approach to the conjuring one as its aim is to creep the audience out in
order to reel them into watching the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40 The
Woman In Black also has a sting, however the sting within most trailer’s comes after the title page is
displayed which is the case with both The Possession and The Conjuring but this: The Woman in
Black trailer’s sting comes before the title page at 1.23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40
The mise en scene throughout these trailers is astounding. Firstly the costume is always relevant, as
there are no predominant thoughts from the audience questioning ‘why are they wearing that?’ For
example within Insidious The mother’s costume, is always very casual in order to create the
representation of a casual person who spends most of their day at the house. Almost with a
‘housewife’ representation, that’s life revolves around her family. Now this representation would be
extremely unclear if the mother was seen around the house in tight shorts and a crop top, with this
costume the audience would have no choice but to question the responsibilities of the parent
leaving it to be unsuccessful. All of the characters clothing within the trailer is nothing out of the
ordinary, all to contribute to the representation of a normal
household.
The body language of the father within Insidious is displayed as
worrying. This particular shot allows the audience to acknowledge the
thoughtful expression on the characters face in addition to his limp body
frame, with no instant movements. Many trailers use body language to
help tell the narrative rather than have the characters continuously
talking.
The body language in this shot displays Rosa as helpless, weak and
drained which once again leaves the audience with an insight into her life, in addition to allowing
them to imagine what is going through her train of thought whilst feeling sympathetic towards her.
If her body language displayed her to be doing loud gestures and
smiling, then the audience may feel confused as to why she would be in
a mental institution.

3. The fonts chosen from horror films tend to differ slightly depending on the genre and sub genre’s
the narrative belongs to. Sans serif is extremely common for horror trailer as it creates a much more
mature feel for the narrative itself. For Sinister the typography for the title page is sans serif,
creating a structured portrayal, it is also outlined in blood another factor that adds to the audience’s
perception of the movie. The Woman in Black typography is sans serif for the same purpose but it
doesn’t feature blood as the sub genre of this movie is gothic, clearly being displayed by the black
dripping from the title.
The promotional package for a movie characteristically provides a symbiotic link tying all of these
elements together.
Horrific imagery is factor that every horror film includes; otherwise it wouldn’t fit under the genre of
horror. The reason for the horrific imagery other than it belonging to that film genre is to further
fright the audience, to promise them that by going to watch this movie,
you will not look at innocent objects again. All trailers want to fulfil their
aim of horrifying the audience, but in a tasteful way which is part of the
reason why horrific imagery isn’t present in many trailers. The Devil Inside
does include this feature, whilst intriguing the audience. They are left
wondering how has that appeared, and why has she done that to herself?,
the only way they will find out these answers is by going to the cinema in
order to watch the film. If more in detail horrific imagery was to be shown
within trailers, then the audience may become too frightened to go and watch the movie in the
cinema, so the right mix between hinting and too much horrific imagery is to be debated before
shown.
A typical narrative structure is proven throughout The Conjuring, in order to grip the audience.
Keeping them entertained in every section of the trailer. The beginning of the trailer is used to
display to the audience what the basic outline of the narrative is, then the middle part gives a
glimpse of the disruption and finally the Montage is displayed which portrays different elements of
the narrative in a mixed order. This is the main structure for several trailers within horror trailers;
the reason for this is to maintain the audience’s attention throughout all elements of the trailer.