Planning- Analysis: Horror Film Trailers

	Narrative	Location	Characters	Voice Over	Theme(s)	Pacing	On- Screen Graphics	Editing (post production) & special effects	Music (and other sounds)
Trailer  #1- Lights Out	The story is told from the perspective of the mother who is possessed by the ghost and is trying to convince her children to listen to her.	The trailer introduces the flat of protagonist which is above a bar: ‘red light blinks’. The ghost is present when the lights are out and disappears when the lights are on.	The trailer introduces the sister first as she has a past with the ghost. She is the one running around trying to resolve the problem: ‘what happened?’ she asks her brother	The little boy narrates the story to his sister. It switches from the boy to his sister when she starts fighting the ghost.		The trailer starts off slow introducing the protagonist with her boyfriend. However, the pace of the trailer increases as the story about the ghost is unfolded. Many quick cuts and black outs are used which emphasise the presence of the ghost in their lives.	The screen with the names of films produced by the film maker before is shown. This creates a sense of knowledge as the audience of those films will definitely go and watch this film.	The use of black outs and quick cuts makes the trailer more effective and conforms to the conventions of horror genre.	Sound is the main element in horror film trailers. The SFX sounds help create the mood of the film amongst the audience.
Trailer  #2- Don’t Breathe	This is a story of a girl who is in debt and plans to steal from a blind man not realising that he is stronger even without his eyes.	The location is a the house of the blind man which is dark and gloomy throughout to create suspense as the film also meets the codes and conventions of a thriller.	The two main characters are the intruders in the house and the antagonist in the story is the blind man who traps them in the house. The old man is blind but he is made all his other senses sharp such as hearing and he makes the intruders see what he sees the power shifts from them to him.	The beginning of the trailer we see the perspective of the girl however once they are inside the house the power shifts from her to the old man who is the antagonist in the film.		The pace is slow in beginning however fastens when they enter the house that is towards the end of the trailer. The black outs and quick cuts create mood and suspense and it shows some of the best shots which would attract audience to come and watch the full movie in the theatre.	The names of the makers is shown on a black screen and the previous films made by them. This could be the way of attracting the existing audience that have watched their previous films to come watch this one too.	The quick cuts and fast paced editing create suspense for the audience to go watch the film. Black outs are essential in a horror film trailer as it allows the makers to put some of the best shots in the trailer without giving away too much.	The music in the trailer creates mood. the trailer opens with slow and happy music which is taken over by SFX sounds and fast paced non-diegetic music. The voiceover of the blind man in between creates the mood and allows the audience to understand his evilness.
Trailer  #3-  The Conjuring 2	The trailer opens with a problem introducing Loraine and her husband.  The mood quickly changes after a black out to them in the house with the girl who is possessed by evil.	The trailers opens with Lorraine and Ed sitting in a living room with a priest which symbolises the spirituality and shows that the end of evil is done with the help of religion. The screen then cuts to the house where the evil is.	Ed and Lorraine are the resolvers who come to solve the problem other than them the main focus is on the little girl who is possessed by evil. The zoom in shot of the newspaper article stating ‘the house of strange happenings’ already foreshadows the problem is in that house.	The voice over starts with Lorraine telling the tale which with time switches to the little girls voice who is possessed by the evil.		40 seconds in to the trailer the pace is fastened and black outs are used to show different things happening at the same time in different places.	The first screen shows the studio name ‘Warner Bros’ and the production company ‘New line company’. ‘the most common case in paranormal activity’ this would appeal to the audience of that film to go watch this one and the use of intertextuality.	The use quick cuts and black outs show the things mis-happenings.	The music is slow however builds up later on in the trailer which builds mood and creates tension amongst the audience.