Horror Trailers Analysis
I am going to conduct an analysis of some horror movie trailers. This is to find out how and what makes the trailers appealing to viewers and also to look at the negative aspects that can be improved. Film trailers are very important because they are great for marketing which creates publicity and 'hype' for the movie, which in the end brings in more viewers and makes money. Their have been many disputes to discover what is actually important in film trailers e.g. characters, sound, storyline etc. I am now going to look at some horror movie trailers from the 1980s, 90s, and two much more recent ones. From this I hope to gain much more information about the progression from the 1980s to now and see how much the standard in trailers has changed.
The Shining (1980)
The shining was released in 1980 and is arguably the best horror movie of the eighties. The plot is about a man, his son and wife become the winter caretakers of an isolated hotel where Danny, the son, sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as "The Shining". The father, Jack Torrance, is underway in a writing project when he slowly slips into insanity as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotels ghost's. After being convinced by a waiter's ghost to "correct" the family, Jack goes completely insane. The only thing that can save Danny and his mother is "The Shining" ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/ ). This is a great example of less is more, there are not a lot of special effects like in today's much more recent movies but the story like and acting contribute. In this film trailer I can see how suspense is demonstrated through the non- diegetic sound, editing and camera shots. They give us flavour which sets the mood and keeps us the viewers interested. The editing e.g. the cut ins and fades create tension and also keeps the viewers on edge like a horror should. The shots used also allow us to 'drift' e.g. there are many shots of the scernery, so when it cuts or fades into a erractic scene it catches viewers off guard because they were not expecting anything to happen at that current moment.
Deep Rising (1998)
This movie was was released in 1998 and did not recieve good reviews from the various critics but still got a views due to strong promotion and also because they were the same directors that created alien vs predator. When a band of ruthless hijackers invade the world's most luxurious cruise ship, they're shocked to discover the passengers have mysteriously vanished! But that doesn't mean they are alone! Something terrifying is lurking just out of sight: a deadly force from the unexplored depths of the ocean that begins to snatch the horrified intruders one by one (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118956/). This is the era when movies special effects had not been developed to its best potienal and it was being over used as illustrated in this movie. The movie like most other movies has impacting non diegectic sounds that occur when something is going to take place e.g. the sluring sound of the creature in the vent or when one of the robbers guns shaking these actions create a mood. In this we are introduced to popular ninetes commentator that has the 'deep baratione storying telling voice'. I believe this is to add create much more suspense. recently it has been deemed as 'corny or boring' when viewers hear this voice but back then it was quite a modern interesting thing. The shots used in this trailer are very fast paced, which I expected as it comes across as an action film which again was very popular at the time.
Dawn of The Dead (2004)
Dawn Of The Dead (2004) (Theatrical Trailer)
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The movie was released in 2004 and recieved good reviews froms crictics even though it was a remake of the 1978 version. The plot is about a young female nurse, named Anna, is caught in the middle of a world-wide chaos as flesh-eating zombies begin rising up and taking over the world and attacking the living. She escapes into the streets and is rescued by a black police officer, named Kenneth. Together they find shelter in a mall along with a group of other survivors. For a while everything is ok, but pretty soon, they start running out of food, the power goes out, and the dead keep finding ways to break through their defenses. Realizing they're sitting ducks, they make a plan to head for an island by using two armored mall shuttle busses to get across the sea of zombies. This movie appeals from a realistic form because its something that you would expect from stereotypical 'commerical' family and then the penny drops, this is a definiet stand out. The non diegetic sound plays has qute an impact e.g. when the clock is ticking it immediatly makes you believe that something is going to occur very soon, so again it carries the element of suspense. The duration of the camera shots allow the story to come together and suprise viewers quickly. The camera shots used played very well with the text used on the screen in the movie to tell us the time of day it has a continuity effect.
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