Analysis of Horror Trailers

The genre I have chosen for my coursework film is Horror. During my lesson I watched about 12 different horror film trailers and there were many similarities in terms of technical film work between them.
The camera work was usually very quick, and each take from different excerpts of the film only lasted a few seconds so as not to give anything away, however there are some takes that are so fast that you can barely see what’s going on, but it’s usually something horrific to encourage audiences to watch the full film. One example of a trailer with numerous, extra fast takes was ‘The Hills Have Eyes 2’, whenever there was a fight or an attack, the victims faces could always be seen, however, the faces of the mutated humans could not be seen as clearly because the camera moved so quickly; I only knew what they were because I have seen the film before. Takes that were slightly longer were often moments of suspense from the film, but again, nothing is given away; there is usually a blackout and someone screaming to keep the audience guessing. I also found that when the camera was behind someone, as if they are being followed, was very effective too, as it built up suspense. Here is the trailer from 'The Hills Have Eyes 2'.


Much of the camera work was done at eye level or point of view in these horror trailers, which is good because it makes the audience feel as if they are actually there, experiencing what is going on in the film, which I feel makes it far more intense. There was one particular trailer that I watched, ‘The Crazies’, where I found the camera work very interesting; there was a woman and she was lying down on the floor hiding from someone, the camera was done from a point of view shot and all you could see was someone’s feet walking along beside her. I liked this camera work because it built up suspense, which is good for a trailer because it can encourage the audience to go and see the film; this is something I am definately going to think about while producing my trailer. Here is the trailer itself; 'The Crazies'.


When someone is running in a horror trailer, the camera usually ‘follows’ them, either from the side or behind, this is very effective because viewers can see how panicked the victim is, and this builds up the momentum of the trailer. This type of camera work could be quite difficult to put into practice on my coursework trailer, but it’s not impossible. I have also noticed that whenever a character in the trailer is holding a weapon of some kind, the camera usually focuses in on their hands holding the weapon rather than the full frame, I think this is either to conceal identities of characters to keep viewers mystified, or because this looks more effective in a short take.
Nearly all the trailers I watched had a dark saturation and the lighting was very dim. This was effective because this kind of lighting gave the trailer a gloomy, dismal feel which is appropriate for a horror film. When I am editing my film, I may darken the saturation if it is effective, I also plan to film early in the evening so there is little sunlight, and I may even film when it is completely dark. As all the trailers advanced, all the actors looked more and more run down; the women had very little makeup on, clothes were dirty as well as faces, hair was messy and sometimes clothes were torn and hanging off the actors sloppily. Costume and makeup are very important and I must ensure that I look into this carefully; for example, if one of my actors in my film was being chased by someone or something through the woods, they may have cuts and scratches and messy hair and they definitely wouldn’t have full makeup on, or this would be an unrealistic portrayal of the film.
Many of the trailers had weapons featured in them; these props were realistic and appropriate to the film. Some weapons which were held by characters were often rusty or smeared with blood; they didn’t look like they were brand new from a store. I have to be careful when using weapons in my trailer because it could end up looking stupid, but if I do use a weapon then I will use the technique that I mentioned before; I will focus the camera in on the hands of the actor who is holding the weapon and see if this is effective.
The set is also another very important part of filming. Some horror trailers that I watched featured dilapidated houses or sheds in isolated areas. I am not sure what my story line is going to be yet, but I will definitely take this into consideration to make my trailer as believable as possible.
A lot of editing goes into these trailers, and some of it was not as obvious as I thought until I learnt a bit of film editing myself in class. I am definitely going to use the technique that I have seen in most trailers, which is lots of takes from the film, only lasting a couple of seconds long. This is because this technique is an effective way of building momentum and suspense and takes that are too long could bore the audience or give too much away about the film. I also like the idea of lots of blackouts, some trailers had lots of blackouts in one take, like a ‘blinking’ motion. An example of very short takes is the 'Saw 3D' trailer which is only 57 seconds long, but is very effective:


This trailer is advertising the 7th instalment of the Saw films, so the producers clearly know how to keep the audience interested and wanting to see the film. If I want my trailer to be a success then I must adopt similar techniques; the trailer must be short, entertaining and interesting.
I have decided that I am going to stay away from fighting scenes and violence in my trailer because this could look comical as I do not have the expertise to stage fight scenes. Therefore I am going to do what I have seen done in many trailers which is implying violence rather than acting it out. Implied violence is usually done with quick blackouts and then the victim screaming which I feel is as effective as a fight scene and also keeps the audience on edge. Sometimes there will be a blackout or a title and a character would have already started talking, before it switches back to the camera frame with the actors in it, continuing the conversation. I like this technique because it gives me extra time so I can include other things and it will enable me to make the takes shorter and quicker. Sometimes editing is used to add in titles between takes such as ‘No Mercy’ (The Human Centipede) to tell viewers more about the film and build up suspense. There are also titles which are reviews from magazines or websites to encourage the audience to watch the film; I will probably do this as I feel this will make my trailer look more professional. There is also a lot of editing with the takes, the clips are cut so that they flow into one another effectively; I learnt the basics of how to do this in class and I will be using this technique in my trailer. I cannot include any high tech special effects in my trailer as I do not have the equipment or expertise to do so, therefore I must try and make the storyline of my trailer as original as possible.
'The Human Centipede' trailer is slightly different to other horror trailers I have watched, it is very graphic and gives the audience a very good idea of what the film is about and it's general storyline. This style of trailer; where a lot of the film is given away, is a bit of a risk as there is no telling how an audience could react. The audience may want to see the film because it's so horrific as this has been highlighted to them thorough the trailer; or they may not bother going to see the film as too much has been given away. However this film had a relatively good reception and won several awards in 2009:

Music for a trailer must be chosen very carefully; it must match what is going on in the camera frame and it must be relevant to the film. In many of the trailers I watched the music built up; it got louder, faster or both to build up to a climax at the end. Some trailers had a voiceover as well as music and the film playing at the same time, I feel that this is very effective as narrator’s voices for horrors can be quite creepy so it is relevant to the film. I want to include a voiceover in my trailer, however finding the right voice to do this could prove difficult. Some of the trailers I watched were just as scary and effective without a voiceover; there were just characters speaking from different parts of the film, so the audience have an idea of what the film is about. This was the case in “A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)”. When there isn’t a voiceover, titles are usually used to explain the film; this technique was just as effective so I will consider this too. Many sounds were also enhanced in most of the horror trailers, such as the slashing of a blade, which isn’t very loud in real life, this was the case in “Friday the 13th”; every time a title came up there was this particular sound. I am not sure how to enhance sounds and how much skill is needed but it is something I want to include in my trailer. I also liked the “Friday the 13th” trailer because a lot of the sound was synchronized such as the enhanced blade sounds which I would also like to do on my coursework.