Kiran's A2 Media Blog: Conventions of movie trailers

Conventions of a horror movie trailers:

Sudden signs of ghosts/ spirits
Death and blood
disruption of normality
Titles are shown mainly at the end
music- indication a frightful moment coming up
Isolated location- not many people around
Action is interrupted with credits on screen
dramatic camera angles show the characters more
always the appearance of authority - police/ denotation of good vs evil.
Dark scary atmosphere- stormy day- dark clouds
Always a protagonist- victim- who ends up surviving at the end
Usually history has a part to play in the film (old fashioned style/ ancient/ decayed)
Non diegetic sound to create tensions and frightening atmosphere

Themes in a horror movie trailer (common):

Horror movie trailers

Film title: The conjuring 2
American supernatural Horror film
Conventions used:

Shot scenes with ghosts/ spirits involved
lots of different cuts- building up of tensions with longer cuts
Sound in the trailer- creating scary mood and atmosphere advertising the horror genre
Non diegetic sound- a child counting, links to the visual on screen/ voice over of scary voices saying dialogues such as "I'm gonna get you now", "Clap!".
Tension build into the trailer as the woman starts finding a supernatural creature rather than her daughter- manipulation of real life situations/ games
Darkness in the room, with a girl holding a match- links to color of black and the indication of darkness
Mixture into childlike innocence makes the film trailer look more scary

Film title: Ouija
American supernatural horror
Conventions used:

Fades into black in situations of panic
extremely fast pace at certain parts of the trailer creating tension
Ionic image of female being hung around her neck with lights
Use of non-diegetic sound screaming- shows genre of horror- female scream- shows isolation and fear
Release date at Halloween- linked to horror in the real world, scaring people.

Film Title: Dark skies
American Science fiction horror
Conventions used:

Mother character in trailer shown with bruises- shows violence involved in the movie (Mise en scene)
Carrie's mother has bags under her eyes- shows something is troubling her
Wallpaper in the room and curtains are old fashioned shows shes traditional and
Low angle shot of boy looking at flickering street light shows mysteriousness.
The title : written in capital letters, short and snappy, black background, white lettering to stand out, placed between main events in the trailer

Film title: Hush
British Horror movie
Conventions used:

Slow dramatic music used to create scary atmosphere
Very dark visual style- as there's no day light in the trailer- only night scenes suggest the world in which they live in is violent and cruel- typical British style of film, appose to the glamorous Hollywood style
Majority of shots in the trailer are close ups reactions shots showing fear and anxiety
Shots are jumpy giving it a thrilling pace and sense of building tension
mise en scene/ sound- short conversation between the hero (also a convention0 hero) and his girlfriend- narrative structure keeps a good sense of realism- part of the action
Audio- pace of tense music reaches the climax scene which then changes to complete silence

Film title: Sinister
British supernatural horror
Conventions used:

Throughout trailer audience is constantly reminded of the sub-genre of horror
"Sinister"' movie name- short snd snappy
Trailer includes possessed and creepy looking children which is a horror movie convention and children are a usually innocent so it makes the movie more twisted
Use of religious and meaningful symbols within the trailer- attributes within the supernatural sub-genre, which can be good and evil and its binary opposites of religious good often features a theme
trailer begins with a dark setting of alone house and 2 lights switched on, giving a sense of feeling that the house holds importance
slow and fast music used to create tension at different times of the trailer

Trailer to other horror movies:

Kiran's A2 Media Blog