Analysing Horror Trailers
Sinister
(2012)
As with most trailers, it starts with the green screen which
states the legal terms, and how the producers of the trailer choose to make it
appropriate for all audiences, so that it can be played within adverts
throughout the whole day, rather
than just after the watershed of 9pm. This will increase the amount of people
viewing the trailer, which may increase the amount of viewers that go to the
cinema to see it, therefore increasing profits.
The First shot of the trailer is an establishing shot of a dark,
isolated, large house in the mist. This goes against a traditional horror
trailer convention, as although it is an establishing shot, the trailer usually
starts normal, and care free. However with this shot, the audience can already
tell that the trailer is for a horror film. It then quickly cuts to a symbol,
which looks like it has been drawn with blood. This may make the audience jump,
but then wonder what that symbol was, and what significance it has. The opening
15 seconds of the trailer go against the traditional calm and relaxed start.
Instead, it describes the murder of a family and how they “were found earlier
this week”. However, the isolated house with a scary past fits the convention
of the certain type of location that is expected to see when watching a horror
trailer.
It then cuts to the same house, in broad daylight, with a new
family moving into it. This is typical of a horror trailer, an unsuspecting
family moving into a new home which happens to be large and isolated from other
houses. There is a voice over the trailer for the next part, explaining why
they moved to the new house, which could again be classed as typical. The main
character is established as the father, who chose to move into the new house as
‘the new story [he] is writing is here’. This follows the main conventions of a
horror trailer, as the main character, usually male is established as the
possible hero towards the end of the film.
The music then starts to build, causing the intensity to escalate.
This is typical of a horror trailer, with the main character going up into the
loft (a typically ‘scary’ and isolated part of the house) and finds old video
recordings of the previous family. The music continues to build as he watches
the video, until it suddenly briefly cuts to the same symbol that was seen at
the start, followed by the family, all hung from a tree. The voice over and
dialogue take over each other as the trailer progresses, as the main character
tries to restore equilibrium. There is a faint note of music playing in the
background, before the trailer jumps to another point in the film where a car
is on fire. The music suddenly plays loudly with sharp notes. This is part of
the convention of the narrative structure of a horror film, the ‘calm before
the storm’. This scene is clearly the identification of the main event of the
film: finding out why the family died.
The main character then manages to recognise the symbol shown to
the audience throughout the trailer as the only link between the cases. This
tells the audience that the symbol is significantly important in the film. The
villain is then established through this symbol, as the main character seeks
the help of an expert and finds out who ‘Bagul’ is. The establishment of the
villain is quite late in this trailer, which goes against the typical codes and
conventions of a horror trailer, which is establishing both the hero and
villain are established early.
The expert of ‘Bagul’ then links him to religion by describing
what “early Christians” believe. This is also typical of a horror trailer, as
most supernatural horrors involve the main character seeking help from a
priest, or how the villain is linked to religion, as shown in this trailer. The
victim is then established, and as is characteristic of a horror trailer, is a
young girl, which happens to be the main character’s daughter. Young girls are
usually chosen to be the victim because the audience sympathises more with
them, due to their vulnerability. This makes the audience more scared and
engaged in the film, meaning that they may recommend it to others, making the
company more profit. A second victim is established as the main character’s
other child, his young son.
After the ‘we need to leave this house’ conversation between the
mother and father, which is present in most horror films, the pace of the music
increases. With the music, there are more shots in a shorter space of time,
which creates a tense and uneasy atmosphere for the audience. There are lots of
screams, shouts and scared expressions over the next few shots, which is also
characteristic of a horror trailer. The music turns into a heartbeat-style
beat. The heartbeat increases until the typical ‘big finish’ which is a code
and convention of a typical horror trailer. The ‘big finish’ in this trailer
involves a group of face-painted ‘scary-looking’ children who are looking at
the camera and telling them to ‘shush’. There is a video of ‘Bagul’ playing in
the background. Next, unexpectedly, in the room, ‘Bagul’ jumps out and puts his
face in the camera for a split second. This could be seen as an attempt to
terrify the audience, and make them subconsciously believe that ‘Bagul’ will
come into their life and get them.
The trailer ends with a final advertisement of the film again,
starting with the title ‘Sinister’, reminding the audience of the name of the
film, which may increase the amount of viewers that go to see the film at the
cinema, which increases profit for the film company. They then give the
audience a website to get more information on the film, before finally saying
that it is ‘coming soon’. They don’t tell the audience a date, which may cause
more people to look further into the film to find out when it comes out, so
more people will go to see it, after looking further into it.
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