Assignment 3 - Conventions of film trailers

The genre i will be making a trailer for is Horror/Thriller. Popular movies of the same genre include Insidious, Paranormal activity and The Conjuring.  I will be analysing conventions that are shared between them.

Insidious

Trailer

• Shows the "well known" actors

• Dim lighting or extremes contrasts of lighting to indicate change of atmosphere

• Shot at a low angle

• Title at the end of the trailer

• Pale, greenish tint to the screen

Paranormal Activity

Trailer

• Dark scary atmosphere - Pathetic fallacy e.g. stormy clouds.

• Disruptions of normality

• Sudden signs of ghosts/spirits

• Music or low grumbling that indicates a frightful moment coming up

• Battle of good vs Evil

• Death, blood and randomly moving things

• High pitched screaming included

• Captions every few seconds

• Usually starts off with long camera shots with little use of cuts.

The Conjuring

• Fast-paced shots are used during violence / chase scenes so that the audience cannot get a clear idea about what is happening, increasing tension. The speed increases throughout the trailer until reaching the peak.
• Similar to Paranormal Activity and insidious, there is a Dark scary atmosphere and dim lighting or extremes contrasts of lighting to indicate change of atmosphere.
• However, this movie is set quite a while back in the late 1900s so the atmosphere is slightly different- less modern and technological.