When I chose the film trailers to deconstruct when I was looking at horror films that have been made in 2010 I chose them carefully. The newer trailers that I chose where A Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw 3D, Piranha 3D and The Last Exorcism. These films are remakes or have trilogies. In this part of my research I am going to look at the older trailers from these films, (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Saw 1 and Piranha) after deconstructing these trailers I will they be able to compare the trailers in detail and see how trailers have improved or whether they haven’t.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
At the beginning of the trailer, there are three children playing with a skipping rope, this shot is used in the new Nightmare on Elm Street too. The kids are wearing white, this shows innocence and purity. Freddy Kruger is shadowed for most of the trailer; you don’t see much of his face. This is mysterious and makes the audience want to see what he looks like. It also makes the character well recognised; whenever they see a shadowed figure they will recognise him for Freddy Kruger. The same music is played all the way through the trailer, music usually gets more tense when the trailer starts to get faster, shows the horror parts in the film, but in this trailer because the music stays the same all the way through, you don’t quite know when it’s going to get more tense and scary. Mostly natural lighting is used, this don’t make the trailer look as fake, adds to the realism of the trailer. There is a part in the trailer where a male is about to get killed by Freddy Kruger, the lighting is blue and black and you cant see any detail on their face, you can only see the outlines of them, with only being able to see their outlines, the audience can only know what emotion they are feeling by what they are saying. The text is in red, this shows danger, blood, and horror but also romance. There are both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds, for example screaming and talking is diagetic and the music in the background in non-diagetic. The voice over that is used in the trailer is deep and scary, this shows the audience what type of film it’s going to be as the voice over being deep and mysterious is a convention that is usually used for horror films.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The lighting is blue and black; this is dark and mysterious, show audience what the type of genre the film is before any shots of film are shown. Gospel music is used, this links in with the idea of an exorcism as they are performed by priests, religious member of society. When the scene changes, a heartbeat goes off, this creates a flow and doesn’t make the transitions from one shot to another seem too fast and unorganised, it also relates with the film so it links in really well. Non-diagetic and Diagetic sounds are used, for example the diagetic sounds are the speech, laughing, screaming and whispering. The non-diagetic sounds are sounds like the heartbeats and the music in the background. A lot of white is used, in the background and when Emily Rose is being exorcised she is wearing white, this shows innocents and purity, also heavenly. The fact that Emily Rose is being exorcised whilst wearing white goes against the fact that she isn’t pure and good as she is being possessed by a demon. Text is used a lot in this trailer, it tells the audience the basic story of what the film is about. Quick shots are used at the beginning of the trailer, they then get slower as the trailer goes on, this isn’t usually what happens in a horror trailer, usually the slower shots are used at the beginning of the trailer to help get the audience into the trailer and help them understand the general storyline of the film before the trailer gets into the horror part of the trailer and starts to get faster. Heartbeat plays over the shots as they change; this makes the trailer flow better. In the trailer, thunder and lightning is used in a shot, this is pathetic fallacy, this is when the weather reflects the mood, for example thunder and lightning when someone’s angry or sunny and bright when someone’s happy. A shot of Emily Rose’s face shows up at the end of the trailer, the background changes from dark to white, this makes her face seem as though its an illusion.
Saw 1
The lighting is dark, mainly blues and blacks, this is dark, sad and depressing, and this shows that the film is going to be a gruesome horror film. The darker the colours used, the scarier the film is usually found. A heartbeat is used when the shots change, makes the trailer flow more and also creates an atmosphere of panic, as the heartbeats gets quicker, the trailer gets more scary and shocking. There is a shot of a white room, this changes to dark suddenly, and the audience knows that the people within the room are going to get killed; the room being all white is heavenly yet dangerous. Jigsaws voice (main character in the Saw films) is played; this gets the audience familiar with the main character. There doesn’t seem to be much music in the trailer, it just sounds like a montage of all different sounds. This gives the trailer its own unique soundtrack. The text is black, is swipes across the screen there is a grey and black background. Even the text in the trailer is sad and depressing; there is nothing happy or positive. The colours that are used mainly in the trailer are bland colours, white, grey black; these colours create a mood of sadness and fear. There is a small clip of music at the end of the trailer, it’s quite tense and leave the audience wanting more. The audience will question what’s going to happen to the people? The trailer gives enough information for people to understand the basic just of the story but not too much information, so the audience doesn’t know too much. Non-diagetic and diagetic sounds. Diagetic sounds are noises such as talking and screaming, Non-diagetic sounds are sounds such as heartbeats and music. There’s a shot of an electric clock counting down, this shows that time is running out, also the numbering on the clock is red, and this shows danger and horror. There is a shot of newspaper headlines, they all have the names of the main character, Jigsaw on the newspaper headlines, this also helps the audience familiarise with the main character.
Piranha
The music used in this trailer is scary and tense, its orchestra music but the use of violins makes it sound intimidating than it should sound. The sound of a heartbeat is used, this gets faster as the trailer goes on, this makes the audience know that something bad is about to happen. The lighting that is used is mostly natural, this makes the trailer seem more realistic and not as fake and made up. The colours that are used are mainly used is red, this denotes horror, gore, danger and warning. At the beginning the characters are doing an advert for the lake, it then goes on to show people having fun and messing around, makes the audience feel happy and excited. The shot then moves to an underwater shot, the shots is blue and the water is murky, this shows that its unclear what is about to happen, People in the lake are in the unknown. Examples of diagetic sounds that were used are sounds such as talking, screaming and shouting. Examples of non-diagetic sounds are the music that is used and the heartbeat. The music creates panic and an atmosphere of fear. There is a little bit of humour, one of the characters says ‘’ ’Sir, their eating the guests’’ Black humour, changes mood from scared and threatened to funny and comical.
In conclusion, I found that older trailers have to same conventions of new trailers, it’s just the quality of the trailers that has improved, I also found that newer trailers are a lot more detailed and imaginative than the trailers that were made a few years ago.
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