Trailer Overview

In order to appeal to the right target audience trailers will use codes and conventions to  make the genre of the film that is being advertised known. Therefore allowing the audience to seek out a film that will gratify their needs. In order for me to use the same technique to ensure the greatest success for my own promotional package I will analyse these six trailers to see what patterns are repeated throughout.

Overall it is very conventional for a trailer to begin with an equilibrium so the audience clearly sees the change in normality within the character's lives. All six of these trailers begin with an equilibrium showing a pattern regarding the narrative. However some of these trailers break the equilibrium a lot earlier than the others leaving the audience stunned as they are dropped straight into action trying to catch up with what is happening on screen. This automatically creates a sense of panic within the audience heightening their fear. This is clearly shown in the trailer Silent Hill. Most of the narratives include a family, consisting of parents and children, this makes it seem more realistic as the audience will be able to relate to them and therefore put themselves in their shoes creating a sense of empathy. The others include a couple which conventionally leads to the victor being the final girl. This set up also allows doubt to be set in the main characters mind. The main character will usually confide in their partner explaining all the strange going ons they have been witnessing leaving their partner thinking that they are making it up or are just over-stressed. The main character will than doubt their own judgement allowing the antagonist to create even more panic, confusion and fear. This can also be used when the main character(s) seek help from the authorities or something similar as seen in the trailer from Jeepers Creepers. This convention is used widely within supernatural horrors so in order to attract the right target audience it would be common sense to apply this convention to the trailer. The antagonist is not normally shown to the audience clearly as this reinforces the doubt set in their mind and also makes the characters and audience even more afraid of the antagonist because as humans we ha e a natural fear of the unknown. All of the trailers leave the audience in suspense as it does not resolve the problem presented meaning the audience will want to see the film in order to see how the characters get on and whether they overcome the antagonist or not giving them a better idea of how they would survive in the same situation as all narratives are in locations that are familiar and the characters are also everyday ordinary people allowing the audience to relate. The location used throughout these trailers are mostly in average looking neighbourhoods and houses. Usually if a house is used the family Will just be moving in it so that the characters are innocent to the negative connotations associated with the house leaving them defenceless when it comes to overcoming the unknown. These conventional locations again create a sense of realism. I hope to include a location that is familiar to my target audience so that I will be able to create the same sense of realism.

Editing at the beginning of all the trailers starts off at a normal pace allowing the audience to relax in the normality of it. They are also very little cuts or fade showing the audience that the character's lives are flowing normally without any hippcups or bumps. However as the supernatural presence starts to make itself known the editing becomes a lot faster in order to emphasise the characters heart beating from fear and the rate in which their life is moving now. More cuts and fades are used to create confusion in the sense that the audience will have to take in new surroundings within the trailer and adapt to what is going on on screen. It is no longer flowing smoothly already playing with the audience's sense of normality. As the antagonist makes a more prominent appearance the use of fast montages emphasise the confusion and fear within the trailer also making the audience feel confused and therefore afraid. Fast montages are conventionally used in this way to show that the narrative is speeding up in terms of it being a horror. As they indicate that there is more cause for fear. The editing regarding hue or distorted images also become more frequent towards the end when the antagonist is prominently involved within the narrative to show the distortion of the main characters lives. This has b9een strongly demonstrated in the Orphan trailer.

The ambient lighting in the beginning of these trailers is bright and cheerful showing that things are normal and happy. The lighting then becomes dim and and grey whilst it also creates a lot of shadows. The connotations of this imply that the antagonist has invaded the life of the characters. Profile lighting is often used in horror trailers to imply that the character has something to hide and maybe something the audience should fear.

Music is general soft and quiet at the beginning. It is just quiet enough to suggest something bad is going to happen, it is like the quiet before the storm. As the narrative begins to develop the music becomes more and more sinister. The use of stabs also scares the audience as we have a natural fear of loud noises.

Expressions of fear, confusion and panic are all included within all of the trailers as this is the main way the director can show that the characters are afraid. This again relates to showing the audience what genre the film will be.

Overall all trailers have established what genre of film they are promoting by using the conventions that apply. By doing so they will attract the right target audience for the film therefore increasing the possibility of it being succesful.