Jassabelle Trailer Analysis

I personally feel that this trailer fits the horror conventions perfectly. The general pace of it both builds suspense, panics the audience and provokes a genuine sense of fear.

The very first time we see the main character - Jessabelle - we see her through an high angle shot automatically portraying her as a vulnerable character and immediately creating a sense of sympathy for her. We see her first in a wheelchair which again enhances the audience's feeling of 'pity' towards her and adds an emotional connect with the consumer and the character.

The first lot of non-diagetic music we hear seems fairly sincere however has a small element of creepiness about it. It’s slow paced and is tinted down slightly in volume when Jessabelle speaks to ensure that the audience can hear her dialogue with a sense of clarity.

We then get a sense of status when the father says to her "..it's really good to see you". He is shot from an low angle perspective giving him a sense of superiority. He also mentions her boyfriend - "..sorry about your boyfriend" - which gives the audience an idea that throughout the film the men have more dominance than the women and, Jessabelle especially, is fairly dependant on them. Here is also when we get our first element of excitement or a small 'jump scare' as we go from a slow montage of shots, finished with classical, slow parallel non-diagetic music to a a very short, snappy montage of shots when her boyfriend presumably dies in a car accident as we see a lorry smash into his side of the car after seeing a close up - a typical horror convention - of Jessabelle’s reaction on her face.

After this we see our first inter title. The outside of the inter title is much darker than the centre which is nearly fully white - this suggests that danger is closing in on the characters within the film. This particular inter title is used especially to sell the film further as it highlights other films that the producer of Jessabelle has produced. This means that those who are fans of this particular producer as more likely to watch this film due to enjoying his previous work. The back ground of the inter titles seems to be of a forest - this could symbolise the link between her character and the forest inwhich she lives near and seems to have her own grave stone in. Other inter titles in the trailer are more to help ensure that the audience is aware of the narrative and not completely lost in a state of confusion.

Again we see elements of status - the camera angle on the mother is shot from a low angle conveying the 'power within her' thus increasing the audiences sense of compassion for the main female protagonist. In fact when we very first meet Jessabelle she is ringing her father - implying that she is weak and searching for a man to save her. 

The general structure of the Jassabelle trailer fits well with the common conventions used in horror trailers. The structure of speed/duration of shots being slow/quick/slow/jump scare.

The jump scare at the end of the film is highly effective. It works so well due to collision cutting. The trailer builds suspense through slow, steady shots and then finally finishes with an unexpected montage of quickly paced 'action' shots. 

There are also elements of body horror in parts of the trailer to highlights to the audience exactly what kind of horror this film is supposed to be fitted within. Body horror links to the 'gory horror' genre and so incorporating shots of 'blood' will help sell the film to 'gory horror' fans. 

Many things such as the pacing of music and shots are used to create tension and suspense. An example of this is the diagetic sound of the tap dripping. The water hitting the sink is enhanced to create further effect. The rest of the scene is silent except for the dripping - creating an enigma. Other elements, such as the creepy whispering, are all used to add to the distubing atmosphere within the trailer. 
Some of the things I liked about the trailer are based around cinematograhpy - for example I feel as though the scene where the main female protagonist is looking upwards as there is a canted angle, tracking shot moving at a quick pace down the stairs just before she gets pushed backwards by what is seemingly 'nothing' there to push her. I feel that the effect made - that 'someone' is haunting her, invisible to our eyes and almost creeping up to her - really adds panic for the audience as we can't see whats going on and due to the main female protagonist being in a wheelchair we feel sympathy for her as we feel like she is vulnerable. Also the high angle shot makes us feel like whatever is about to attack her is far more superior than she. Another emotion this effect creates is tension - as an audience memenber we do not know what is going to happen to her once the 'creature' has reached her. 

A point that I did not like was the close up shot of the mothers face at 1:45. I felt that seeing the mothers face all wilted and old looking to such an extent added a small sense of humour to the trailer and I felt that as an audience member, my imagination of the mothers crooked face was actually better and 'scarier' than actually seeing it in an image. 

Class Poster Idea

Black Swan Trailer Analysis

The film trailer opens with the 'Fox Searchlight Pictures' logo and swiftly moves to the 'Cross Creek Pictures' logo. This is used for simple advertisement. While this is happening delicate classical ballet music begins, parallel to the scene it moves into - the main protagonist dancing to the music. Even though the music is non-diagetic it fits well with the movements of the dancer. The girl is lit with just one spot light on a pitch black stage. This adds a sense of curiosity immediately to the film as the audience wish to find out who she is or at least see her face. The shots are very slow and creates a relaxing atmosphere for the consumers which is enhanced by the soft dialogue of the actress used in a voice over as we watch her dance. The dialogue is very simple again initiating a comforting mood for the audience however when the voice speaks 'she killed her self' we are immediately taken to a black out. The black out helps focus the audience on nothing but the meaningful dialogue itself as we having nothing else to look at and helps put the audiences attention into the directors hands. The next thing we see is the films 'achievements' on two sliding inter titles. The inter titles are written in white writing against a contrasting black background to ensure they standout and are clear to read. The inter titles lay out fits perfectly with the film itself - around the writing they have two 'feather like' images which could potentially symbolise the feathers that begin to sprout from the main character as she turns into the creature or more simply the swans themselves. Also faintly in the background we can see images of what looks like feathers enhancing this point further. In the next couple of shots, as an audience member, we get a chance to learn a little about the main character - we firstly see her in dance class and then talking with her mother, "..and you're the most dedicated dancer in the company'. This is an important piece of dialogue as it during the film her dedication is the reason behind many of her choices and so is an important feature within the trailer. We then get another inter title starring the directors name, 'Darren Afronosky'. This will help widen the target audience and sell the film further as those consumers who are a fan of Afronosky's work are more likely to come and watch another one of his productions rather than watching a film they know nothing about. The same style of inter titles is used to create a sense of consistency. At this point the shot montage is still fairly slow however the music is beginning to gain 'beat' and volume which will create an element of suspense for the audience as we are introduced to new characters. Again we spot another inter title, this time highlighting the other films that Afronosky has produced to again sell his film further. In the next couple of scenes - "shes not faking it" - we can feel a sense of conflict between to characters which adds to the excitement as we want to see more of whats going to happen. From here on the shots within the trailer increase in speed adding to the tension previously created. We see Nina's (the main protagonists) cuts on her shoulder which builds curiosity. At 1:11 we see the first element within the film trailer that is actually 'scary' and introduces the horror aspect to the genre. We see Nina standing in front of a mirror and her reflection doing something completely different to her. I feel as though this is fairly unexpected to an audience and would definitely 'shake them up' a little. From here on the non-diagetic music increased in darkness - the volume increases and the general tone of it is much deeper. This creates suspense, terror and again curiosity which is highly important within a trailer as the whole point it to get the audience to want to see more and therefore watch the film. The montage of shots are much faster paced now and each time something 'scary' happens for example the face of the 'bird' on a man, or Nina seeing blood in the water with her while she is in the bath there is a high pitched - almost stabbing - sound used to intensify the scene and creates panic. After going to one last black out the diagetic music settles slightly as we see more inter titles starring the actors/actresses names - this again is used to widen the audience as fans of these actors/actresses are more likely to watch films that they know they are in. Lastly we see a close up - highly conventional for horror films - of Nina pulling a feather out of her back which hints at the narrative and then another close up of Nina looking at the feather with blood shot eyes. The feather coming out seems very cringe-y as the sound effects used are enhanced to make the audience 'grit their teeth' and adds to the body horror within the trailer making the film conventionally more of a  'horror'. Finally we see the title page which is white writing against a back ground of black feathers - maybe symbolising Nina's transformation. Her breathing is also enhanced to create a creepy effect.

There are a couple of basic elements to this trailer that I feel work well. The first of these is the intertitles - the feathery effect used as a background adds a sense of continuity to the product and ties in well with the main narrative of the film. Its also nice that we typically know of swans as being white, so excluding the fact that the film is called 'Black Swan', its interesting that they have used black feathers as it connotes danger, death and creates a mysterious, spooky atmosphere. Another good point that I like is the close up of Ninas face at 1.54. Close ups are highly conventional within a horror trailer as it obscures the consumers view of what they are seeing as it is abnormal for us to invade anybody's personal space like that. Also we can clearly see Nina's red, bloodshot eyes which connotes again danger and death bring even more of a subtle hint towards something bad happening in the actual film encouraging audiences members to what to see what is happening to her and therefore watch the film.

Cloverfield (2008) Analysis

The only music used for this trailer is stereotypical adults 'party' music which is diagetic. The music is fairly upbeat and helps the audience’s mood lift to the mood of the trailer as the parallel music is loud too. The camera is handheld adding a sense of realism - the audience experiences the trailer as though we are the man behind the lens shooting his friends at the party. The only intertiles we see appear at the end of the trailer in white against a plain contrasting black background to ensure that the writing stands out and is clear for the audience to read. The intertitles include the producer’s name - to widen the target audience as those who enjoyed the producers previous films will be more inclined to watch his next making - and the release of the film itself obviously letting the audience know when to come to see it. 

The production company of the film is 'Paramount Pictures' which is quickly shown at the very start of the trailer for the same reasons the producers name is shown - a consumer that has enjoyed productions brought to them by Paramount Pictures is much more likely to watch this film if they feel they know a little about it and have enjoyed previous work from people/companies involved in it. The trailer starts with friends at a party wishing 'Rob', the main protagonist, a good time away in Japan. The dialogue is very modern and basic. As an audience member we see the overall idea of the film to be fairly simple and upbeat, which is when our mind is quickly changed. As the room 'shakes' and the characters within the film take themselves to the top roof we see a building explode with 'fireballs' shooting out of it. This is the first sign of 'special effects' that we see drawing the audience’s attention into the film as it builds a sudden sense of excitement. From then on the dialogue changes massively and from here to the end of the trailer we can just hear characters screaming which adds to the chaotic mood that the trailer has suddenly and somewhat randomly adopted. 

In terms of pace the trailer starts off calmly with a sense of happiness and energy as everyone in the party dances to music and chats - however, when the 'earthquake' scenario happens the atmosphere changes along with the pace. As the characters become more and more panicked the camera shots speed up creating a sense of tension for the consumers. When the Statue of Liberty head rolls through the street the speed of the montage of shots increases significantly creating a huge sense of excitement and panic and inevitably leaves the audience wanting more. After the first 'earthquake' experience the music at the party is 'turned off' presumably by one of the characters and they all stand watching a TV of a news reporter explaining what has just happened. This lets the audience in on the events happening at the same time as the characters in the film making it seem more interactive and as if we are actually there as we feel just as 'lost' as to what is happening as the characters in the film do - enhancing our ability to react along with the characters and connect with them. When the first explosion happens the camera itself cuts in and out of focus and occasionally turns on and off in short flickers - this immediately creates a sense of terror for the audience as we have no idea what is happening and sporadically can't see anything at all. 

The trailer for Cloverfield uses the conventional structure for horror trailers of slow, relaxed pace shots to a montage of quick, flustered shots. This usually creates a sense of suspense to the horror trailer however in Cloverfield I found the quick shots to be more sudden and unexpected as the trailer goes from a very simple, fun party to a manic disaster.

Cloverfeilds trailer itself is very different to the majority of trailers as it is a 'scene trailer' and so only focuses on one particular scene instead of a highlights trailer which focuses on the most interesting sections from many scenes. Also, due to research I found out that the trailer was released randomly and without a title leaving audience members confused and therefore 'sending a link of the trailer to their friends' which of course increased the 'word of mouth' about the film quickly and encouraged more people to watch it as they were intrigued to know what it was about. 

Dawn of the Dead Trailer (2004) Analysis

The trailer begins with a mystical tune, almost cosmic and peaceful. To coincide with this music all of the shots for the beginning of the trailer are slowly paced and only include calm, happy imagery for example a couple kissing and a little girl playing around outside. The weather for the beginning of the trailer is very picturesque - sunsets with no wind or interference's - which uses pathetic fallacy to set a calm and tranquil environment. The inter titles that read 'evening' and 'night' are both dressed with the same peaceful music, however when the word 'dawn' appears on an inter title the music suddenly deepens which instantly tells the audience something is going to go wrong when dawn time is occurring. We then see a shot of the sun disappearing which symbolises the idea that 'goodness' is leaving and its place will be replaced with 'evil' or 'danger'. The music stays 'deepened' and a clock ticking begins - this gives us the idea that we are waiting for something to happen which builds suspense. After the dialogue "..are you OK?" everything begins to increase in both speed and volume. We see a quick montage of shots as the girl 'zombie' attacks and the main female protagonist tries to run away. The lady's scream is a lot louder than the music to make the audience jump and feel panicked. As we see a panning shot of the road in which the lady lives we can see that pathetic fallacy is used yet again - the weather is much dingier which highlights the idea that everything is going wrong. The lady's breathing is again enhanced to almost create the idea that we, as an audience, should be breathing like this too which adds a sense of tension and uneasiness. We then read an inter title which for moment settles the mood for the audience. After a few medium paced shots of the main female protagonist driving away from her home town and ending up in a mall we see an establishing shot of all the new characters and of the mall to set the scene. The music is much calmer again here but as an audience member we still feel tense as the music feels as though at any second it will increase in volume/speed and something new and potentially frightening could happen. From here the shots differ in speed frequently; some of the shots are elongated in length and others are short and quick. For an audience member this almost makes us feel lost as to how to react because we are essentially 'thrown' around with different emotions and effects used. After an image of what looks like 'DNA cells' emerging together - representing the whole idea within the film of the 'zombie virus' the screen appears completely white. Finally 'zombies' hands are pressed up against the white screen with faint 'heaving breathing' and muffled talk - this highlights to the audience the idea that the zombies are 'close to attack' which give the consumers hints as to what will happen throughout the actual film. Finally we see the 'Dawn of the Dead' title appear against an indistinct, low pitched, almost groan-like music. This trailer does not have a jump-scare which I felt let it down a little as the ending was slightly dull and relaxed. The trailer adopts the structure of a slow-quick-slow montage to build and hold suspense, however I felt a final jump-scare at the end would of definitely made the audience 'jump' and capture their attention for one last moment.

An element within this trailer that I particularly enjoy is the very beginning. We see an establishing shot of a small, sweet village with the sun shining and everything seems settled and relaxing. I feel this sets the audience up for thinking that everything is going to be calm and stress-free and therefore the quick montage of shots when the 'young girl zombie' attacks seems more shocking and unforeseen. 

One part that I dislike is that it takes around 0.26 seconds for the main action to begin and although I like that it again makes the attack seem unexpected, I feel that it goes on for a little too long leading me, as an audience member, to feel slightly bored. 

Insidious Trailer Analysis

At the start of this trailer we see the title - Insidious - for the first time. The sound effect used as the title appears sounds like bones cracking/clicking which immediately sets the audience on edge as its uncomfortable to listen to. The first piece of dialect we here is "Are you ready?". This is effective as its almost asking the audience directly if they 'are ready' for what they are about to watch which increases the tension as we almost begin to 'prepare' ourselves but also adds a sense of interaction between the audience and the characters on screen. The ticking noise from the metronome plus the sounds, of which i feel, sound like male, heavy breathing again create a sense of uneasiness as the two sounds put together sound very creepy. The slow pace of the trailer so far doesn't create a sense of panic yet which is an effective horror trailer convention as a slow pacing usually leads to fast montages which allows for the audience to be settled and the suddenly panicked. Here is where we read 'From the makers of Paranormal Activity and Saw'  - this is an effective way to widen an audience because those people that particularly liked the two mention films will be much more likely to then go and watch Insidious due to previously enjoying the producers work. The metronome continues to play as we see shots of the happy 'nuclear' family - this gives the audience a sense of background and context before immediately showing us a medium shot of the little boy in a hospital bed - illuminating the idea in the audiences head that anything can go from perfect to terrible in such a short space of time. The sound of the wood from the ladder breaking is enhanced which makes the audience focus on whats happening. From here on the shots become slower paced which almost creates a sense of anxiety as the audience is waiting for something to happen. The beat of the metronome soon sync's with the sound of a rocking horse (with nobody rocking on it) and then both of which instantly stops as the lady - the main protagonist - stops the horse from rocking. The tracking shot of the lady walking into the bedroom and stopping the horse goes on for quite long time - we even get to see the lady's facial expression in a low angled medium shot to connote inferiority - all to build suspense before a loud 'booming' sound begins as the title - on a blood red background, connoting murder, sin and evil - appears. The next combination of shots are all slowly paced to enhance the build of suspension and also, to coincide with the unhurried shots, there is a gloomy, increasing music that begins straight after the inter title. The shots all stay at a slow, eerie pace until we hear the dialect - "..there was something in there with him". There is a fast montage of shots used with louder music to panic the audience. From here on the shots increase in speed creating excitement and action for the audience but mostly panic and thrill. The music too increases in both speed and volume enhancing the effect of the quick montage.  Lastly the music stops and so does the fast montage. The audience then sees a very dark and dingy hall way to which there is no music to go with it - instead we hear dialogue from the old lady in a slow calm voice. This is incredibly effective, not only because its creepiness and sense of isolation and loneliness but also because it sets the audience up for a series of jump scares instantly afterwards which are illuminated with fast, scratchy and 'bass-y' music. This trailer uses the usual convention for horror trailers of 'slow-quick-slow-jump scare' in terms of shot speed to boost the suspension and terror from the audience.

Psycho 1960 Trailer Analysis

This trailer challenges the usual conventions of the usual horror trailer as it starts with a fairly quick pace - almost five shots of 'jump scares' - and then settles to a slower pace afterwards. The usual convention of a horror trailer in terms of pace would be slow to quick to create a sense of tension for the audience however Psycho immediately makes the audience jump with its very first montage of quick shots of the death. During these five shots there is very loud, high pitched sound created by the music which is repeated for each shot. The music sounds sudden and almost 'stab' like which links the shot of the knife with the music and creates a link with the music and the death of the women in general. Due to the date in which psycho was released - 1960 - it was important for the producer to work with restricted narration which is why if this trailer was out in this days generation we would of probably seen the knife's impact on the women or at least much more blood to enhance the body gore element however due to its era we only see signs of her death for example the mother holding the knife, the close up of the women's hand sliding down the shower tiles and the shower curtain being ripped down to hint at an 'attack'. After the fast montage of shots the trailer immediately slows down and allows the audience a chance to see into the plot of the movie. "Here we have a quiet little motel" - this is the first dialect that we hear which instantly insinuates that something bad is going to happen due to the use of the words 'quiet' and 'little' which creates a sense of dramatic irony. The shots after this are much slower and are generally medium shots of the characters within the film which i see as a sense of introduction for the audience. The slower paced shots eliminate the 'panic' that the first montage made of created and settles the audience ready for another jump scare at the end. The music used is very gloomy but also has high pitched elements to it which i think represents the women's screams as Norman - the main protagonist - focuses his killing on females. "..and none of us can ever get out" - after this line of dialect the music's tempo immediately ups in both 'bass' and tempo creating a sense of 'action' and 'thrill' to the trailer. Again the shot speed increases until we reach a moment where Norman is dragging a women's body out of the bathroom - which again is where the speed of shots slow down to emphasis the importance of the death and highlights the 'horror' aspect of the film. Here is where we first read Alfred Hitchcock's name which is important as it would attract many horror fans that particularly liked his work therefore broadening the target audience. From here on the music grows in both volume and speed generating anxiety and panic from the audience until it finally blacks out and the title slowly appears. The font of the title is fragmented which symbolises Normans disjointed mind due to his Schizophrenia. The background of the font is plain black. The colour itself connotes darkness, loss and mystery but combine this with the bloody red 'splatters' that appear soon after the title has and together we have connotations of murder, slaughter and death. Finally we receive a jump scare of Normans creepy, smiling face which works perfectly after the slow combination of shots that we have just watched. This jump scare is a typical convention of horror trailers as the whole point of a horror film is to scare the audience and so adding a jump scare on to the end of a trailer captures the audiences attention right through to the very end, usually resulting in them 'jumping' and wanting to see more!

Class Research: Favourite Type of Horror

My personal favourite genre type is psychological horror. My reasoning for this is I am not a huge fan of watching a film that is highly unrealistic, however psychological horrors tend to be much 'scarier' due to the fact that they often deal with things that could potentially happen and they tap into basic human fears, for example paranormal activity, and emotional instability to build tension. Psychological horrors excel at allowing the viewers mind to create the horror effect for themselves, where as action and particularly gory horrors try to make the effects for you which i find tedious. I don't find body horror extremely effective as in some cases it can look very fake which ruins the illusion.

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