The six film trailer’s I have decided to analyse are from
the Supernatural genre I hope to gain inspiration for my own film trailer by
discovering their common conventions.
All of the film trailer’s
narratives are depicted and revealed to the audience in a similar way. The
trailer’s all seem to follow a conventional series of events. For example the majority
of the trailers I have analysed seem to begin in idyllic circumstances and the
characters within the trailer seem happy although evil isn’t far away. For
example Sinister begins by showing a news report informing the audience that a
murder has been carried out within a family home, however the trailer moves
forward to 9 months later when a new family move in, the audience are aware
that they are under an illusion as the father character explains he has a ‘good
feeling about this’ when discussing with his wife the move into their new home
they both laugh and seem happy as they settle down for bed although trouble is
lurking. This is very similar to ‘Amityville Horror’ where the trailer begins
with a sense of normality it lulls the audience into a false sense of security
at first they wouldn’t be able to distinguish that it is in fact a horror film.
However it is soon revealed that the idyllic scenario of a family finding a
‘beautiful’ home in area where they wouldn’t normally be able to afford housing
is too good to be true. As we discover a family murder has taken place within
the house when they ask ‘What’s the catch?’, the characters seem to be under a
false pretence as the father toasts ‘To a perfect house and to a perfect
family’ both Sinister and Amityville horror the families believe they are
gaining a fresh start in a family home for their dreams to shattered by the
paranormal activity which occurs. Furthermore ‘The woman in black’ also follows
this convention as lawyer Artthur Kipps is on route on Eel Marsh house he has
been sent there to try and redeem himself at work and make amends within his
job. At first the scenery seems pleasant as eel marsh appears on the exterior
to be a quaint Victorian style house however its appearance can be deceiving as
it’s the house belonging to the ‘woman in black’, although all appears well
within the first sequences of the trailer there is a foreshadowing that dark and
sinister events are going to occur as a local man warns Kipps that ‘the sooner
the house is sold the sooner people can move on’ hinting that the house has a
dark history to it. Moreover ‘Insidious’ begins with a
man in what appears to be physiatrists chair a montage of his memories reveals a series of his happier memories with
his family showing typically upper class suburban homes, and events with the
family, however these harmonious scenes are broken when a child is climbing a
ladder in an attack and he falls and the following scenes show the child in
hospital stuck in coma most parents worst nightmare. ‘The Rite’ also uses an
deceptive setting at first we view beautiful and peaceful scenes from the
Vatican the audience would normally associate this imagery with peace and God,
they would not expect evil to be lurking.
(Beautiful countryside scenery from the start of the women in black as Arthur Kipps makes his journey to eel marsh)
(Beautiful scenery from the Vatican in rome)
I have also noticed that the
trailer’s often give the audience basic background information to their
audience within at the beginning of their trailer, for example I have
identified in ‘Sinister’ news reports are used to show, the house is revealed
as well as images of the family a news report is used within the background,
claiming ‘new details found today in the grizzly murders of a local family
earlier this week’, similarly in the trailer for ‘Amityville Horror’ when it
is revealed that a murder had occurred
within the house, ‘several people a family’ had been murdered this gives the
audience basic background information to the audience and hints at perhaps why
there may be a potential haunting within the house. ‘The Rite’ also establishes
the narrative by revealing background information and facts to the audience the
first title reads ‘In 2007 the Vatican’s chief exorcist revealed an initiative
to install an exorcist in every diocese worldwide’ ‘Three days later the
Vatican denied the story’ this is informing the audience that the film is based
around a conspiracy theory surrounding exorcisms and the church, they also use
the main characters voice to reveal that he is a sceptic ‘The interesting thing
about sceptics were always looking for proof the question is what on earth
would we do if we found it?’ the fact that the main character is a sceptic
reveals that the film is very much based on truth as the following title
informs the audience the events that occur within the film are ‘Inspired by a
true story’. We see the sceptic searching for answers within the Vatican the
audience is told other facts such as ‘Last year there was over half a million
reports of demonic possession’. The audience also view other evidence of
priests in a seminar learning information about demonic possessions.
‘Insidious’ also informs its audience by giving them access to the main
character’s memories showing where things began to go horrifically wrong for
him the fall of the child is acts as a metaphor for when his perfect household
was shattered and became his worst nightmare. ‘Paranormal Activity’ gives the
audience as background to their narrative too as they use footage from 2006 of
Hunter being abducted the audience are then forwarded to 2011 the way in which
the film trailer is shot is through a documented format, we see the girl record
through her webcam the police arriving at her neighbours house. Each of the
trailer’s use news’s reports, basic background information and insights from
the characters to give the audience some information to show the narrative,
moreover the use of documentation and news reports and the subtitle used within
‘The Rite’ ‘Inspired by a true story’ makes the events that occur within the
trailer more realistic for the audience and makes the audience relate and
empathise with the characters as they are not just people they represent real
peoples stories making the characters reflect on whether they could find
themselves in a similar overall this induces a greater sense of fear into the
audience.
(Screenshot from Amityville
horror showing a news paper clipping)
(Screenshot from the Rite giving background facts)
The events that follow usually indicate that there is more
than meets the eye in these idyllic scenarios we often see character’s
searching for answers to mysterious occurrences our discoveries they have made and
trying to gather meanings through symbols. For example in Sinister the Father
of the family is crime reporter, he coincidently finds footage belonging to the
previous family, he finds there are a series of murders and each one has been
recorded, after finding the shocking evidence he decides to watch each of the
tapes and finds that the common link between them is a symbol he speaks to a
colleague and finds that the symbol is linked to a pagan called Ragual who
consumes the souls of human children. Similarly to this in paranormal activity
4 the main character Alex makes the discovery that something isn’t right with
the child from across the street who is staying at her family’s home. She sets
up cameras all around her home to record the child’s activity and discovers
what he has been up to, more strange occurrences happen when she he draws
symbols all over his body she researches the meaning of the symbols to try to
find a meaning and link to what is happening. Moreover within The Amityville
Horror we see the mother of the household searching for answers as to what
happened with regards to the family that were previously murdered in their new
house when he husbands behaviour begins to change she searches through old news
paper clippings and speaks to the local priest to ask his advice and to find
out more information about the family who lived there before her why hadn’t
they been able to get help. Moreover the time of 3:15am seems to be the time
when paranormal activity is most dominates within the house. Additionally
within The Rite we see the sceptic search for answers as he searches for
evidence as to whether exorcisms are real and how many take places by who and
why?
(Screenshot of the main character making the discovery of
the tapes)
(Alex reviews footage of Robbie walking into her bedroom whilst she is asleep)
Other common
conventions featured within the trailer is more than often children are linked
to the evil entity, perhaps because they are possessed and more than often
children are the only people who can see the evil spirits that often take on a
harmless form as their imaginary friend such as in ‘Sinister’ it is revealed
that the demon Ragual ‘conusmes the
human souls of children’ within the trailer we see the young daughter within
the family get affected by the symptoms of the demon she claims to be painting
a picture of Stephanie a girl who used to live in the house. At the end of the
trailer we see a group of possessed children victims of the demon watching
images of the demon. In Paranormal Activity Four the strange occurrences
happening seem to be due to the child who is staying at their home Robbie, when
Alex hears the alarm system go if within the family home she goes to
investigate what is causing it when she goes to see a chandelier begins to
swing and suddenly another crashes to her feet she looks up and Robbie is
there. Robbie is a mysterious character within the trailers he has no other
family to stay with so he is forced to stay with Alex and her family details
about Robbie are very vague overall Robbie represents the fear of the unknown.
Within the Woman in black like in Sinister Children are her main victims
because of the loss of her own son. We see images of three daughters of the
villagers commit suicide we are even exposed to the horrific image of the woman
in black’s dead son he drowned in eel marsh. Within the Amytiville Horror
trailer we also see the daughter witness the ghost of the girl who died in
their home she talks to her however her mother is oblivious and cannot see her
she regards Jodie as her daughter’s imaginary friend. In Insidious the
character is the son is the shape and form the evil spirit has taken on their
son appears to be possessed after he falls ill strange occurrences happen
within the house the mother hears a demonic voice over the baby monitor
furthermore when experts investigate the paranormal experiences that are
occurring within the family home are because their son is haunted.
(Sinister possessed children)
Another convention I have identified within the trailers is
the use of jumpy moments/scenes as the trailer builds up the images the
audience view tend to become more graphic and the end of the trailers often
feature a stab before revealing the title of the film, the main tagline and the
release date. An example within the Sinister Trailer Is when the father goes up
the families loft to see a series of children sitting and watching images of
the demon a stab is used where the demons face pops up towards the father, in
addition to this there are graphic scenes of the daughter being possessed by the
demon, she appears to unfold herself from a box as she screams in terror.
Similarly to this in the trailer for paranormal activity four we see the main
character Alex being elevated into the air by an unknown additionally at the
end of the trailer a stab is used where we see her being dragged off her bed by
an unknown entity. Towards the end of the trailer the face of evil is often
revealed this convention has also been followed in the woman in black as the
trailer picks up pace using shorter sharper cuts between each scene the images
become more graphic and more horrifying for example we are Arthur Kipps comes
across the coffin of the woman in black, after the film title is revealed there
is a stab where the main character Arthur Kipps puts his hand up against a
foggy window uncertainly when the screaming face of the woman in black appears
similar to the stab used in Sinister where we see the face of the demon. In the
Amityville horror we see the events climax as the mother and the children of
the family climb to the roof so they can escape from the possessed father, we
also are exposed to images of the dead family throughout the trailer. The
trailer for Insidious uses the fast pace cuts towards the end of the film so it
builds tension up to the point of revelation that the child is haunted not the
house. In the Rite we also see a build up of more graphic images as the woman’s
symptoms of possession gets worse, instead of The Rite ending in a stab it ends
with the sceptic and the priest having a discussion leaving the audience with
the thought “you can only defeat it when you believe in it” to create a question and an emphasis of
mystery in the audiences mind.
(Screenshot from sinister when the demonic face pops up the
final stab before the film title)
(Possessed woman from The Rite)
Overall the trailers start with idyllic and harmonious
images lulling the audience into a false sense of security. Using regular
scenery of families happy together also makes the audience identify and
empathise with the characters as they are presented as ordinary people, inducing
a greater sense of fear into the audience as the normality presented within the
first few scenes is destroyed as sinister events soon using contrasting
everyday life imagery within the first scenes of the trailer creates greater
fear in the audience as they imagine themselves experiencing the events that
the characters experience because they understand and empathise with the characters. The use of background information and newspaper
articles are significant within the opening of the trailer as they inform the
audience with basic information without giving away too much of the narrative,
it helps give the events that occur within the trailer have a greater sense of purpose. The use of symbols and signs help to indicate to the characters and
the audience an explanation or a meaning as to why these events are happening
if the audience see these signs and symbols they can make their own judgements
as to the cryptic meaning behind the supernatural occurrences. The use of
children being in contact with the entity causing havoc in the characters lives
is a common convention used throughout the trailers I have analysed it is an
important feature as children are identified as vulnerable therefore they are
more susceptible and naive to the danger they are in furthermore children are
often seen as pure and innocent the very opposite to the evil that terrorises
them this creates a sense of eeriness with the association between evil spirits
and children. Finally towards the climax of the trailer the images we see tend
to be cut so they hit the audience in a fast paced sequence, because of this
some of the images the audience view are not clear they therefore emphasise a
sense of mystery often the face of the evil that is causing the supernatural
horrors that the characters experience is revealed to the audience in stab this
is effective as throughout the trailer there is a build up of events to reveal
what the supernatural being is however there is still as sense of mystery as
the audience ask how will the characters defeat it? How does it harm the
characters? Why is it harming the characters?
At the end of the film the film title and tagline is
revealed as well as the release date so it is fresh within the audiences mind.
The film title is displayed in the same font which is used for the poster and
the tagline used remains the same this helps to create a symbiotic link between
both the poster and the trailer as a promotional package for the horror film
affirming the message of the film into the audience’s minds.
Throughout all the trailers dark and grey colours are
predominate with shadowy lighting, this creates a sense of mystery as not all
is revealed the audience anticipate to find what is lurking in the shadows.
Moreover common music/sound effects used are heavy breathing and ticking beats
resembling a heartbeat this is to emphasise the fear that the characters have
as they anxiously wait for the being to reveal themselves.
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