Analysis of trailers

This is the trailer for Saw 4, which was produced by the same companies I am using 'Lions Gate Films' and 'Twisted Pictures'

• The trailer only lasts a mere 36 seconds, which is rather short even for a teaser trailer, this will be too leave the audience in suspense.



• It's fast cut and edgy



• Text flashes on the screen



• Various shots- such as medium and long shots



• Shows its a horror trailer immediately (the audience have become used to horror conventions and recognise them straight away).



• Male deep voice over- adds more suspense and horror



• Opening credits- establishes that this is a bid budget film, just by saying the production companies titles.



• Very dark lit.



• Screams



• Blood



• Jump cuts



• Scary music



• End credits- displays a website.

Above is the trailer for the movie 'Dead Silence,' which again was produced by 'Twisted Pictures,' the company I am going to use in my trailer.

This trailer starts rather unusually, with a stereo playing rather old-fashioned, upbeast music at the beginning. Then the music fades out, which is when the audience know something bad is going to occur. The opening sequence is very dark, and the blonde woman lets off a loud shriek.

The trailer is fast and explains the storyline. With various clips of different characters speaking.

Text appears on the screen also, with a light flashing through it as an effect.

The clips are rather short and snappy, flicking from different situations, peoples and settings. This adds flare to the trailer, allowing the audience to stay entertained.

There are quite a few establishing shots, such as the shot of the old theatre, this allows the audience to know where the next clip is going to be set.

There are a lot of different camera shots:

• long shots


• close-ups


• extreme close-ups


• establishing shots


• medium shots


• high angle shots


• low angle shots

I need to include a variety of shot styles in my trailer to make sure it stays interesting throughout.

Throughout, the trailer is set in the dark, which is not a surprise as this is a common convention of horror movies and the audience can recognise this.

The trailer leaves you wanting more and certainly makes the audience want to go to the movies to see it.

This trailer is for the movie 'The haunting in connecticut' which is produced by 'Lions Gate Film.'

It begins with a woman's voice-over, which breaks the conventions of normal horror trailers as usually a man's deep voice over is used to create suspense and horror.

The high angle establishing shot, which is well lit, shows the audience they are in a nice neightbourhood.

The camera than is set in the neighbourhood and the audience are aware they are in a moving car, as the camera quickly pans along the houses.

Then we meet the woman who is talking, she is a blonde, attractive female driving the car.

At the beginning of the trailer, you can not particularly tell it is going to be a horror. But then as you get introduced to the new 'creepy' house, and the scenes become low-lit, the audience can establish its genre.

At the beginning the clips are rather slow paced, but near the end they speed up, they are fast paced and quick cuts.

This trailer shows a scary, old house being used to add horror to the movie, which is something I am going to use in my horror trailer.