Horror Film Trailer Conventions

Genre - which originates from a French word meaning 'type' -has always been a powerful idea in the making and analysis of feature films. Genre helps put films into categories and 'allows the prospective audience to predict and choose which products they will enjoy.' -Advanced Studies in Media

My group and I have decided to create a horror film trailer for our A2 coursework. We have looked at different horror film trailers to get an idea of the typical conventions used in the genre so that we can include them in our trailer to make it more appealing to our target audience of young horror film fans. We are going to take into account popular locations, characters and editing techniques to achieve this.

Death or a fear of dying is an underlying sub-theme of all horror film trailers. Aspects of death are shown through connotations which hints to the audience that either someone has died or is in danger of dying.

The colour red is used in many horror films to connote danger:

In Annabelle, the doll wears red which makes her stand out as the dangerous one which will cause the disruption.

There is also a clip of a red ‘A’ written in blood, in the same trailer, connoting death.

Our main character is going to wear red ribbons in her hair which will make it clear to the audience that she is going to be the person causing bad things to happen.

Location

There are generic conventions used when making films, depending on their genre. Common horror film conventions include remote locations such as haunted houses, old abandoned buildings and dark woods.

These are used to create the sense that the victim is alone with only a small chance of being rescued, making it scarier for the audience. The sense of isolation also allows the viewers to connect and empathise with the character.

Our group have decided to set our trailer in a haunted school.

Characters

Vladimir Propp’s Character Types in Horror Films

Horror films usually have a villain that struggles against the hero such as in 'The Woman in Black'. A Ghost named Jennet is the villain in the ‘Woman in Black; in the film we see her seeking revenge on the people in the village and the main victim, Arthur Kipps.

They have a hero/ victim; in the case of ‘The Woman in Black’, the victim is Arthur Kipps.

Usually horror films don’t include a helper; Victims are usually alone in an isolated place so it seems like they won’t be saved.  

Certain types of characters are more effective in horror films and are commonly used as villains:

 Little girls are popular in this genre because most people find them creepy and unnerving; we are going to use a little girl as our main villain for this reason. Films such as ‘The Shining’ display this convention.

·        Moving toys are used to suggest paranormal activity; they are scary because the audience are not used to seeing inanimate objects come to life so it makes them feel uneasy. An example of this is in ‘The Woman in Black’ trailer when the toys in the playroom start moving on their own. This establishes that the film is a paranormal themed horror film straight away. 

             Clowns are often used because Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) is an extremely common fear so the films will scare a wide audience.

      Shots, Lighting and Editing

Chiaroscuro, low key high contrast lighting is used in horror films to create a fear of the unknown and to represent the dark and scary happenings.

The editing pace usually speeds up throughout horror trailers to build up tension for the viewer and fast clips are used to make the audience jump.

Todorov’s Narrative Structure

Most horror film trailers start with an equilibrium that very quickly gets disrupted or no equilibrium at all as trailers are only a few minutes long and can only show a small part of the film. The main focus is on showing as much as the disruption as possible because it allows more ‘scary’ parts of the film to be shown which creates more fear for the viewer.

 For example, in the ‘Annabelle’ trailer, we hear a panicked voice as soon as the trailer starts, this shows the disruption:

“John, wake up!”

“What?”

 “Next door, I heard a scream”

The fact they had been in bed suggests that there was an equilibrium just before but it is not shown in the trailer.

Our group have decided to have an immediate disruption in our trailer because we have seen how successful it is in gripping the audience straight away.