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. 

Mood Board

      

      1.     Psycho: Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense and as we want to create a psychological horror trailer, Psycho is a good source for clever horror techniques such as collision cutting and montage.  

2.      Ed Gein: Ed Gein was a notorious serial killer during the 50s/60s and the male character in our horror trailer is loosely based around him taking very small aspects into his personality and placing them within our plot, male because of the horror towards women.

3.     The Uninvited: Is psychological horror which we have gained inspiration from and the poster itself has an element of voyeurism.

4.  Fortune Teller: We would like to include a fortune teller in our trailer to add to the psychological aspect which also adds an element of mystery.

5. Abusive relationship: One of the key themes we're going to feature within our trailer is abuse

6. Japanese Film Poster: We decided to include this image on our mood-board as we liked the effect of the girl crying blood and would perhaps consider using this type of image from our film poster.

7.  Poltergeist:  is a type of ghost or other supernatural being supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects moved around or destroyed. We plan on including a poltergeist in our trailer.   

8. Writing on a Steamy Mirror: we want to include this technique in our trailer.

9. Tarot Cards: These go with the inclusion of a Fortune Teller in our trailer as they help tell the future or past.

     

10. Love Cards: Our trailer is planned to include a love spiral gone wrong. The idea of having two       characters love each other creates a situation in which an audience member can sympathise and relate to either character.

     

11. Jilted: This is the name of our film and perhaps one of the fonts we may use for a film poster. The word Jilted itself means 'suddenly rejected or abandoned by a lover'. This links perfectly with our whole film plot and is a short, powerful word that is easy for a consumer to remember. 

     

12. Insidious: Another psychological horror that we have got inspiration from as it includes a poltergeist. The girlfriend in our film comes back as a ghost and so we wanted to see how ghosts movements would differ and therefore watching this film helped a lot.

     

13. Alcohol: With an abusive relationship comes guilt and people often turn to alcohol to deal with this, as will be seen in our horror trailer.

14. Death: One of themes in our trailer is death, leading to a poltergeist character.  

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!

History of Horror

Horror film poster