Trailer Analysis – You’re Next (2013)

The trailer for the horror film You’re Next is one of the most interesting that I have seen in a long time. It’s about a group of, what look like, people wearing animal masks that terrorize a ‘perfect’ family.

The trailer starts as any other would. Showing the house that the family live in, or the parents of the main characters live in. Also, during this time, there is an introduction to the family in question. This allows the viewer to understand the family and see that are good people and haven’t done anything to deserve what is going to happen to them in the rest of the film. Also, during this time there is also the song Perfect Day by Lou Reed being played over it. This backs up the idea that this is a ‘perfect’ family enjoying their day. Not only that, but during this sequence we see the family sitting around the table for dinner. The character at the head of the table, whom we presume to be the father, is praying. Again, this shows that this is a religious family, suggesting that they are good people who have never ‘sinned’ and do not deserve what is going to happen to them. 

During the first scene in which we are introduced to the family, we can see titles appear on the screen in between the clips of the family and the song playing in the background. These titles, at least one of them, are synced to the song that is playing. For example, as Lou Reed sings the words “Perfect Day” the words “The Perfect Family” appear on the screen. This further plants the idea that the family is ‘perfect’, this is also given more weight by the fact that word “Perfect” is both on the screen and in the song.

But, the mood of the trailer suddenly turns from being cheery and upbeat to scary. This happens when a title appears on the screen saying the words “But in one moment”. Also at this point, the music in the background fades out fast, making room for a sound of a muffled scream to play to the viewers.

We can then see a woman (the daughter?) at the kitchen getting a drink of water. We are looking at this through the window, as if spying on her, possibly through the eyes of the person looking through. We can then see a reflection of a man in a cat mask appear in the window. This makes the viewer feel uneasy and uncomfortable about what is on the screen in front of their eyes. This also makes the viewer feel intrigued about what the film is going to hold and who this person is.

After this point, we can see a man looking out of a window noticing something in the background. He then says what the audience is thinking: “What is that?” It’s here that the audience realizes that the characters do not know what is going to happen to them, and that they are in the same frame of mind audience.

Just after this moment, presumably the same one who was looking out of the window, we see a man standing at the dinner table. This is almost the same shot as when they are all sitting down to have dinner. This shot type allows the viewer to become fully immersed in the chaos that has happened, and realize how much has changed in such a small amount of time. From serenity to chaos. We see the man fall to the ground whilst holding his, something hit him when it flew in from the window in the previous scene.

The next few moments of the trailer show the people within the house running around, locking doors, windows and trying to find a place to hide. During this time we can hear various people asking what is happening. Both of these things, the video and the audio, add up to make the viewer feel sorry for the characters, that they are in such vulnerable positions, and intrigued to find out what is attacking them.

After this sequence has taken place, the pace of the trailer becomes slower. This represents the strange quite that the characters would be experiencing. They have locked all the doors and windows, and are now waiting for something to happen to them, no one wanting to say anything.

We can hear a man saying the words “They’ve been watching us for days.” This allows the viewers to see that this wasn’t just a random attack on the seemingly ‘perfect’ family, but something that has been carefully planned and executed. There is then a point when we see that whatever has been attacking them, has made its way into the house.

This is the point when the viewers fear and interest will reach its peak. This is when they really want to know what has been attacking them and what has now found its way into the house of the ‘perfect’ family.

We can see a woman leaning against a door with a terrified expression on her face. To her left, we are able to see a hole in said door with light shining through it. Then, the light is blocked out by someone (something?) standing on the other side. At this point, the characters realize that this is really happening and whatever had made its way into their house is a real threat to them. Here, the viewer is also wondering, What is on the other side of that door?. Making them grow more interested in the plot and wanting to watch the full film.

There is then a hard cut to an exterior-long shot of the house that the family are living in. At first, we can see that all of the lights are on within the house, but in an instant we see that all of the lights (and any sign of life) is quickly switched off.

There is then another hard cut to inside of the house, we are looking at a mirror in the house, with the words “You’re Next” sprawled across it, in what looks to be blood. Possibly the blood of the man who was killed earlier on in the trailer. After this we see a woman being grabbed by an arm that breaks through the window. This shows the danger that the family is in, because before now, we hadn’t seen anyone being directly attacked. We then see another woman falling over with a bunch of knives, each of them scattering across the floor. This shows the urgency of her actions, the urgency to protect herself and her family.

It is just after this that we finally see what has been attacking the family. A man in what looks to be a Panther mask walks into the room and stands above the woman on the kitchen floor. Seeing this antagonist for the first time allows the viewer to get a sense of what to expect in the film, and making them begin to wonder what this person or persons motives are.

After that we then see the true fear on the womans face as she is about to have a sledge-hammer swung at her. She rolls out-of-the-way of the falling hammer. We then see a close up of the hammer hitting the floor, in the background the woman is lying beside it. There is also a slight focus pull, from the woman to the hammer. This shows the audience the direct danger that each of the family members are in, whilst the antagonists are also in the house with them.

There is then another hard cut to a CD player, which what looks to be loading a disk before cutting to the timer on the player. When the time then ticks to one second, the same music from the beginning of the trailer begins to play. This provides a huge contrast from video to audio. The audio is calming and relaxing, whilst what is being shown on the screen is distressing and disturbing. Whilst this music is being played, there is a sequence of shots that show the family in various different scenarios within the house. We are able to see a man with a knife in his hand, a woman lying on a bed crying (then soon after a ‘cat’ looking over her) and another woman walking into a room that looks to have a trap set on the floor. All of these things add up to suggest to the viewer that the house has been trapped, and that they are being hunted and killed one by one.

During this time, more titles appear on the screen. They say “The Animals. Will Hunt. You” These fully backs up the idea that these animals are there to ‘turn the tables’ on the humans. By hunting them, the animals are turning from prey to predator. This also explains the traps that we could see around the house in the scenes before.

The speed of the transitions between each shot begin to escalate after the last title has been shown, and the music begins to fade out, making way for a low, dull noise to takes its place. This sound builds up the tension once again and spells fear within the audience. The transitions eventually speed up to where about six different shots are being shown every second. This makes the viewer become overwhelmed by what they are seeing, but also make them more and more engrossed in the trailer for the horror film.

At the end of the trailer, the typical Convention is seen. A woman is looking under a bed, when suddenly a cat (the same one we saw in the kitchen?) very quickly appears on the other side, directly in front of the woman. This is something that the view is not expecting to see, because this trailer hadn’t featured any up until now.

Overall, I think that this is one of the most effective trailers that I have seen, not just for a horror film, but for any genre of film. I think this because it supplies the perfect amount of action, gore and mystery to the viewers. It doesn’t directly give away the plot of the film, but shows a lot of what will be involved in the film.

Trailer Analysis – Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

The trailer for Paranormal Activity 4 is a bit different from others of this genre. This is because, rather than going straight into the film, it begins with a back story of the film. There are titles that say “Katie and Hunter’s whereabouts remained unknown” This allows the audience to get an understanding of what the film’s plot will revolve around.

The use of the ‘static’ transitions used in this trailer represent the fact that the whole film is shot through hidden and hand-held cameras. This is allowing the viewer to become accustomed to the type of cinematography that is going to be used in the film. I feel that this is a good way of changing the scene in a trailer as it allows for the pace of the trailer to remain, through each of the scenes.

The lighting, or rather lack of, represents the disturbing and scary nature of the film. Something that is very prominent throughout the plot of the film. Having this in the trailer allows the viewer to really get a feel for what the film is going to feature and involve.  Also, because a lot of the trailer is shown through the use of a hand-held camera, the viewer can only see a small amount of the background around the character in the scene. This allows for them to become easily susceptible jump scares, as they would be very unexpected.

Just after the titles are shown, there is a sequence in which a normal-looking family is shown moving into a new house. This represents the fact that this is just an average family, and also the fact that the house is still unknown to them, and they are unaware of what lurks within.

We then see the main character her a noise in the middle of the night and go to find out what it was. During this time, we hear a number of other noises and finally see a chandelier swinging back and forth. At this point, another one drops from the ceiling and crashes on the floor by her feet. This particular jump scare makes the viewer become more engrossed in what this film is going to involve.

Then, more titles appear on the trailer saying that “The Activity” is “Closer than you think”. To the viewer, this makes the film very personal and real because it makes them think that ghosts are real, and that this could potentially happen to themselves. Also, because it is set in a normal house, it would make them think that their own house is going to be haunted.

The rest of the trailer is just a number of ‘unexplained’ occurrences. Like the woman having the duvet ripped off the bed, and her floating in mid-air. All of these are cut incredibly quickly and are in quite low quality. Both of these things add up to create an eery feeling during the trailer.

I do not think that this trailer is very effective because it is pretty much the same as the other three for the Paranormal Activity series, and also it is nowhere near as good as other horror  trailers that I have analysed.

Trailer Analysis – Insidious (2010)

The trailer for the Horror Film Insidious is fairly short, but contains a large amount of action, which is typical for a Horror Trailer. But this one Cuts between different scenes a lot quicker than the others that I have seen.

As with others, this shows the Rating screen at the beginning, as well as the names of the companies involved with the production of the film. In this case, it happens to only be one, Film District.

Similar to the Evil Dead trailer saying that it has been made by the same people who made the original, this one tells the viewer that it has been made by the same people who made the iconic horror films Saw and Paranormal Activity. This immediately tells the viewer that this film is going to be of the same calibre as these other two, allowing the viewer to become interested in what is going to happen in the film and whether or not they want to watch it.

What is different from this trailer that is not typically done in others is the changing of the name of the film. When the title of the film is shown at the beginning of the trailer, it’s normal and as you would expect.

But the name “Insidious” then gets erased, and the word “Is” appears on the screen.

Once more the word gets erased and replaced again with the title of the film, “insidious”

This immediately shows that the film will involve some type of creature or entity that will possess a character in the film. But it also goes further in trying to scare the viewer of the trailer. Because all of these changes resemble the phrase “Insidious is inside us” This makes the viewer feel that what is going to be shown in the film is something that is very real and could potentially happen to them.

We can then see a man sitting in a chair looking toward the camera. From behind the camera we can hear another man’s voice say “Are you ready?” This is both addressing the man that we can see and also addressing the audience. As if to say “Are you ready to watch this film?” This adds to expectation of the trailer and what type of film this is going to be. We then see a hand starting a Music Timer.

The significance of the Music Timer represents that a certain time is required for a spirit or demon to fully consume or possess a person. Although this is not directly apparent to someone watching the trailer, to anyone who is interested in this type of thing, this makes the trailer very appealing.

The next part of the trailer shows an Establishing Shot of a regular American house. It then goes onto to show that same man in a range of different rooms within the house with his family. All the time, the cuts are happening in sequence with the ticking of the Music Clock. This shows that this is a normal, regular family, but that it is only a matter of time before something bad happens to them.

Then cut to a Close Up of a boy’s foot on a ladder just as the rung that he is standing on gives way. We see the boy fall from the ladder onto the floor in a Long Shot. We can then see the boy laying in a hospital bed and, who we presume to be his mother saying that he is not in a coma and that do not know what this is. This shows the Complication in the Narrative of the film, as this is the moment when things go wrong.

The pace of the trailer then dramatically slows to allow the suspense to build up. We see the mother walking towards a dull, rhythmic noise, which is still in sync with the sound of the Music Clock ticking in the background. When the mother sees that the noise is coming from a Rocking Horse that is moving on its own, she stops it. At this point, the sound coming from the Music Clock and the Rocking Horse is replaced by the sound of a heart beat. But the heart beat that we can hear would be the same sound that the woman can hear of her own heart. She can hear this because she is terrified that the Horse was moving on its own.

After this scene, the trailer becomes a lot darker. The colour used suddenly become a lot duller than they were before and the lighting in the setting virtually disappears. This is to create the effects that the house has been haunted or taken over by the ghost. This is then reinforced by a shadow that can be seen against a wall.

This suggests that because we cannot see what the shadow is being cast by, that there is something that is not normal within the house, and something that could pose a threat to the family living within.

After this, there is an Over-the-Shoulder shot looking at a baby monitor. The mother, who is looking at the monitor, can hear noises coming from the room that the receiver is in. We then see the mother walking towards the stair and looking up through the middle in the direction of the baby’s room.

A High Angle shot is used to show that the woman is no longer in charge of the household, and that she, as well as her family, is vulnerable to whatever has come into their house. She hears a loud voice shouting “Now!” that sounds as though it is no longer coming from the baby monitor, but loud enough for her to hear it with her own ears. There is then a Jump Cut to the mother bursting into the baby’s room, only to find that there is nothing in the room with it.

There is a Long Shot of the son’s room, and at the same time a voice over from the mother saying that there is something in the room with her son. This builds further upon the idea that the house is haunted. But it places a theory that it is just the boy’s room that is haunted, not the whole house. It’s not directly apparent, but we can see a body in the left hand side of the screen.

After this an extremely fast paced sequence occurs. You can hear Dalton (the son) screaming and the handle on his door moving up and down suggesting that he is trying to get out of the room but is unable. We then see his family running in his direction whilst shouting his name, we they get there the dad barges the door open, suggesting that there was someone, or something, keeping it shut.

When we finally see into the room, the mother and father are kneeling either side of Dalton, with what seems like a bloodied, adult sized hand print above his head. From this, we are unable to tell who’s blood this is, or even if it is blood. But what is clearly apparent is that there was someone in the room with him. This fully reveals to the viewer that there is something wrong with the son’s room or something wrong with the son. As this is only happening to him and no one else in the house.

A sequence happens where a man is explaining that they have done a number of tests within the house and that they couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Another woman then says “I don’t think bad wiring is the problem here” She then says a bit later on in the trailer “It’s not the house that’s haunted; it’s your son” This fully tells the plot of the film. It shows the viewer that it’s not the house that has been haunted or even just Dalton’s room, but Dalton himself. But it still leaves some things for the audience to find out if they watch the film. Like, is the boy just being haunted by the ghost, or has he been possessed. Like in Evil Dead or The Exorcist.

Once this vital piece of information has been told to the parents of the son, the audience is able to fully understand the significance of the title of the film changing from “Insidious” to “Is” and then again to “Insidious”

The overall pace of this trailer changes from fast to slow and then to fast again. This is to start off by scaring the viewer, then lull them into a false sense of security by calming them and making them think that the scares have stopped. Then hit them again with the ghost shouting “Now!”. This sets the tone of the film and what the viewer is to expect when they watch it.

As with Evil Dead, this trailer also makes use of Jump Scares. This is done twice within this trailer. Once when a red face is shown behind the man, this could either be the actual ghost or the boy, it’s hard to tell. And also at the very end of the trailer another Jump Scare is used, showing a woman either being thrown towards the screen, or being pulled away. These are used to leave the viewer’s heart beating fast, feeling exhilarated and the adrenalin flowing.

I feel that this is one of the better Horror Trailers as it leaves you completely enticed and already invested in the story. This is also one of the few trailers that actually left me wanting to see the film.

Trailer Analysis – The Conjuring (2013)

The trailer for the film The Conjuring is much the same as the others that I have analysed. However, the others use Jump Scares a small amount, the most of which being twice in the Insidious trailer. But this one relies on them heavily to create fear within the audience.

The beginning of the trailers shows two Paranormal Investigators, for lack of a better term. This introduces the two main characters of the film, the Warrens, Husband-and-Wife-Paranormal-Investigators. They are holding an event named “Seekers of the Supernatural” Through this sequence, the audience is able to get to know the two characters and begin to build a relationship with them, thus making what happens to them and what they have done seem very real.

Another sequence begins, telling the audience that this film is based upon true events and the Warrens are real people. This makes the audience even more immersed within the trailer because what they are going to see ‘really happened’. This also allows to audience to build more of a relationship with the Warrens because they would feel that anything that has happened to the characters could potentially happen to themselves.

It is also said that they have carried out thousands of Investigations in supposedly ‘haunted’ locations, but have never told anyone about this one. Knowing this information, the audience are lead to believe that they are privileged to know this information and it’s something that only the people who watch the film will know. Therefore making them want to find out what happened even more than before.

As is the same with the Insidious trailer, time is a major part of this one. A Grandfather Clock can be seen stopping its ticking. The significance of this is much the same as Insidious. In Insidious, the clock represented the time that it takes for a spirit to possess someone or somethi9ng. Whereas in this trailer, the clock represents that the time is up, so to speak, and that either the house or someone in the house has been taken over.

After this, the first Jump Scare of the trailer can be seen. This is when the woman laying on the bed is pulled by her leg. This is something that the audience would not be expecting to see happen. They would rather be expecting something in the background to move or twinge, at least in the beginning of the trailer. The puts the audience on edge about what else they might see and what else might shock them. Also the sound that is used at the moment when her foot it pulled is used to both add weight to what has just happened, but also to shock two different senses of the audience. Almost as if the audience have to be shocked, even if they don’t watch the screen, they are still going to her the loud sound.

Again, as with the other two trailers, we are told that the people who made this film were also involved with the making of two other well known horror films. In this case its Saw and Insidious. Telling the audience that this is going to be a good film, the are actually some similarities between this and the Insidious trailer. One example of this would be the Establishing Shot of the house that the majority of the film will take place in. They are both much the same as one another.

The music used in the first half of the trailer is something that would not typically be found in other horror trailers. This old-timey music is used to show that the two Investigators are veterans of their job. And it also shows that the investigation that is the subject of this film is an old one that had been locked away for a long time.

Soon after this, another Jump Scare is used. This on is not as bad as others that can be seen in horror trailers. In fact, it is more the accompanying sound that makes this one shocking. The shock is when we see a Mid Shot of the man and are also able to see two legs behind him, suggesting that a woman has been hanged/hanger herself in the tree beside him. Again, not long after this another Jump Scare can be seen. This one is of a woman jumping on top of a girl from a wardrobe. Both of these are used to really scare and shock the audience that is watching. Making their hearts beat faster and more adrenalin to pump through them.

Through the next sequence, the audience learn that this is neither a haunting nor is it a possession. It says that it’s the “truth that will consume you”. This both further shows that audience that this is a true story, this is very similar to the plot line of the film Mama, and also tells the audience that they will be captivated by the film’s plot and be scared witless in the process.

The end of the trailer sees the last of the Jump Scares. This is when the Investigator is told to look into a mirror, and that the ghost of a woman will appear. After, what feels like a long time, the woman pulls the mirror away to reveal the ghost’s face behind said mirror. This one is particularly jumpy because the woman first looks into the mirror, then looks behind her and looks back before actually pulling the mirror down. This leaves a long time for the audience to wait for the scare. First expecting it to appear straight away, then thinking that there never was going to be anything there and calming down. Only then to be terrified when they weren’t expecting it.

The overall effect of this trailer, I feel, is brilliant. It gets straight to the point without including much else. It shows the audience that they are to expect plenty of shocks and terrifying moments whilst keeping their attention on and building a relationship between the two main characters.

Also, not a lot of people would have noticed that the woman who stares the Investigators in the beginning of the trailer, is also the same woman who’s house is investigated in the film.

Trailer Analysis – Evil Dead (2013)

This trailer starts, as most trailers of any genre do, with the green rating screen. This shows that the trailer is safe to be viewed, and that it doesn’t contain any real-life violence or terror.

Also, as with most other trailers, the names of the production companies involved in the film can be seen. There are two common ways in which this is done. One; by showing each name individually or by showing all of them at once. This trailer opts for the latter of the two options. This would be to allow for more time to show off the film, instead of wasting too much time on displaying the names.

 The ‘meat’ of the trailer opens with an Establishing Shot of the cabin that the majority of the films takes place. This is used to show the people who have seen the original Evil Dead Trilogy that this re-make will be keeping true to it’s ancestor, and also to show new-comers to the films where this version will be taking place and to show them that the characters in the film are, in a sense, isolated away from the rest of the world, and any chance of help.

These types of shots in a trailer are often shown in a longer, not dramatically longer but longer nonetheless that the rest of the cuts within. This is done to show the drama, and possibly the danger that this cabin holds.

After this shot, we can see a man open a door to a bedroom. Using an Over-the-Shoulder Shot we can see that he is looking at a woman who is sitting on a bed within the room. The camera then Hard Cuts to a Close-Up Shot of the woman. She has a scared, even terrified, expression on her face. This shows to the viewer that she is either scared to be in the room, or scared that something bad is going to happen.

 We then hear this woman say “You have to get me out of here” She says in a very slow deliberate tone. Implying that she is really trying to get her point across to the man, and to show him that she is being serious and not joking around.

Both of the two assets (the expression on the woman’s face and what she says) tell the viewer that there is something wrong with the building, or room, that they are in and that she is frightened to stay there. This is used to really build up the tension of the trailer, and allow the viewer to become both enticed and apprehensive about the rest of the trailer.

Another way that this trailer draws in the viewers, especially those who are familiar with the original Trilogy of films, is by telling them that this film is “From the Producers of the Horror Classic” This informs them that this film is going to be the same quality, if not better than the originals because the same people were involved in making it.

After this, there is a scene where a man is ripping open a black plastic bag wrapped with barbed wire to reveal a book within. The book is then opened to reveal the words “Leave this book alone” Straight away, this shows the viewer something that is crucial to the plot of the film, without giving too much away. It is at this point that the viewer is also able to make the connection between the frightened woman and the book that has just been shown. This method allows the viewer to make them feel as though they have made sense of the general idea of the film without them actually knowing any major plot points.

This trailer then goes onto to show the mad looking through the pages of the book, those of which will be very familiar to fans of the original Trilogy, grabbing their attention, and also showing the same woman from the beginning of the trailer running through the woods as she explains that there was something in the woods with her and how she now thinks that whatever is was out there, is now in the room with them.

This section of the trailer is shown through a series of Jump Cuts that occur very quickly, one after another. This shows the sense of panic that the woman was going through in the woods and the sense of panic that the man is experiencing when looking through the book.

These Jump Cuts are a very common convention that is used in almost every ?Horror Film Trailer. It really helps to draw the viewer in and prepare them for what they should expect in the full film. 

Another convention that is commonly used when making a Horror Trailer is the use of Jump Scares. This is when an image or a person will appear on the screen unexpectedly for a short amount of time. This convention is used during this trailer. This is the first time that the viewer see this girl, her character is not explained in the trailer, but becomes apparent during the film.