Common codes and conventions of film trailers

• Music used to impact audience, usualy incidental or emphacise actions which shocks the audience to takeing notice,e.g- Inglorious Bastards the music can also be continuous so that it builds tension slowly as a killer stalks his victimits, also its strong anchorage for the preferd reading of the genre of the film, and is well like by the target audience in mind, eg in Valentine teaser trailler the creepy music picks up to sound more modern as you watch more whilst using a continuous beat and incidental sounds, and sound effects eg screams. The tense music to make your heart speed up and slow down to scare you, also which underlines action, eg knife stabbing in 'Psycho'
• central protagonist is usually on screen first either with face unseen eg in the shadows or blatantly obvious depending on the genre and trailer/film style.
• Hand-held/shakey camerawork eg 'Blair Witch Project' is often used to make the audience feel as if they're there in the film more causing them to apply the films more to their own lives this in turn makes the film scarier to watch, and keeps tension high.
• central protagonist tends to speak first (excluding voicover) but can also remain in shadows or unseen until further on in the trailer this is both to establish the central protagonist quickly so the audience get used to which characters which, and to create further narrative enigma as they may not have been seen yet, howvwer the film is likley to be from thier perspective if not your own.
• tend to start with slower clips speed up to show body of film, concluding scene of decision of options i.e. problem, solve, solution, conclusion, better known as Todorovs narrative structure of equilibrium-disequilibrim-new equilibrium, this is because alot of horror trailer try and make the audience feel comfortable at first in a false sense of security and are then hit with violence or a loud sound usually in the form of a montage to shock the audience and to get the idea of thee film across quickly without giving the acual plot away.
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  horror-tend to be dark black, with  red or white serif text for titles and companies involved, dark creepy looking images with a twist or partly unseen , to add some narrative enigma ad suspense.
  
  
  

• tend to be centered around real life ie closer to home makes it more scary for the audience if belivable eg Prom Night is set mainly in a school so is easily relateable to their primary target audience of youth, the social realism aspect of horror films tends to keep the audience scared for longer as well as jumpy during the film.
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  juxtaposition used alot eg jock, geeks, scream queen and final girl- this is partly to reach a wider range of youth target audience, but also just be cause strong juxtapositionis used in many aspects of horror films to shock the audience.
  
  
  
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  eg-Hell Night
  
  
  
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• slow mixed in with lots of quick cuts
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  use of colurs eg blue tint-lighting, black background white writting-stands out, bright red-blood-death violence, text spiky or droopy looking.
  
  
  
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  The three primary colours are generally used as tints as a common convention in horror films, especially blue tint e.g.Halloween, because thse conventions are well known and recognisable they're also used to help anchor the genre of the film.
  
  
  

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Initial ideas first and second

First idea

• Horror/ Thriller film about a couple who have only just started going out, they get on really well untill she starts 'tutoring' another guy who isn't as popular as her boyfriend but she seems to get on really well with the guy she is 'tutoring'. The couple start arguing alot and the relationship starts to break down when the girl decides she doesn't want to be in the relationship anymore.
• The girl starts to hand around with the guy she is 'tutoring' and his friends alot more, as she does this her ex becomes very possessive of the girl and seeks revenge.
• The girl starts to think that she is being watched and followed and starts to get scared. Her ex- boyfriend knows how much she cares and values her best friend and her parents so he thinks that a good way to get revenge on her would be to kill her best friend, then her parents and then the girl.
• The ex- boyfriend murders her parents and then weeks later her best friend, obviously the girl gets very suspicious as the people closest to her have been murdered and her ex- boyfriend isn't turning up to school.
• The girl has to move into her aunts and uncles house as she doesn't want to live alone, one night she is alone upstairs in her room, talking to the guy she was 'tutoring' on the phone, without noticing she was being watched, her aunt and uncle were downstairs watching TV. Her ex- boyfriend lets himself into her bedroom window but she doesn't notice as she has back to the window while being on the phone. Her ex- boyfriend grabs her as he is holding a knife in his hand, she screams and tries to get away from him but he has a tight grip of the girl. Her aunt and uncle hear her scream and try to get into her room but the ex- boyfriend has put a set of draws in front of the door so they struggle to get in, They phone for help and the police manage to get into her room and pull the guy off her as she is pleading him to leave her alone.
• The ex- boyfriend gets sent to a clinic to help him with his mental disorder and the girl slowly moves on with her life, taking each day at a time

Second Idea

• opening scene-(happy light almost 'fairy' like music)girl walks accidentally walks into timid male 'geek'(possible 2 shot), low angle otss from males pov looking up at female character, 2 shot as she comes down to his level helping to pick up books and then high angle otss from females pov as he looks longingly at her leaving him, (the change of altering levels in height between the two of them connotes their popularity and status, that shes 'higher' up than him and yet is different from other girls because shes nice enough to stop and help him 'comes down to his level', this is why he chooses her as his victim because shes different he thinks they're now the same as he bullied for being different.
• (music still happy little lower and faster increasing this way as the montage goes on)Show montage of shots of female and her 'jock' boyfriend when they were happy together, (either with small speech between the two of them or a recorded voice-over of a key conversation between them saying how they love each other/'are strong','be together forever' which although is a commitment between them is also a catalyst now tempting fate to test them ending in the opposite, this is also a signifier that something bad is going to happen.
• (Musics then more powerful, incidental and enthicises certaain actions to grab the audiences attention) the montage then speeds up more as the scenes of the couple get more unhappy and argumentatuive (include 1 possibly 2 scenes of female being really goog friends with 'geek', geek now being seen in more and more of a low angle from females pov.
• introduce quicker cuts of female running in the dark through a wood looking scared through a window, possible flashing scenes of knife/phalic weapon like objects in and amongst the montage, arguing, her seeing dark figures following her thinking its her ex-boyfrind trying to hurt/kill her. (usic at its pinical).
• Music then a has a sudden stop goes back to the same tune from the begining giving some closure signifying to the audience the trailers over ends on possible scene of female in her pj's crying over photos of her and her ex-boyfriend in her living room her phone rings, otss at name of caller 'geek', she answers the call but before saying anything he instantly asks 'whats wrong!' (but how did he know something is wrong? may then show shot of his outside her window on the phone, or just black figure behind her outside the window so not to give the ending away that hes the stalker/killer)
• Horror/ Thriller film about a couple who have only just started going out, they get on really well untill she starts 'tutoring' another guy who isn't as popular as her boyfriend but she seems to get on really well with the guy she is 'tutoring'. The couple start arguing alot and the relationship starts to break down when the girl decides she doesn't want to be in the relationship anymore.
• The girl starts to hand around with the guy she is 'tutoring' and his friends alot more, as she does this her ex becomes very possessive of the girl and seeks revenge.
• The girl starts to think that she is being watched and followed and starts to get scared. Her ex- boyfriend knows how much she cares and values her best friend and her parents so he thinks that a good way to get revenge on her would be to kill her best friend, then her parents and then the girl.
• The ex- boyfriend murders her parents and then weeks later her best friend, obviously the girl gets very suspicious as the people closest to her have been murdered and her ex- boyfriend isn't turning up to school.
• The girl has to move into her aunts and uncles house as she doesn't want to live alone, one night she is alone upstairs in her room, talking to the guy she was 'tutoring' on the phone, without noticing she was being watched, her aunt and uncle were downstairs watching TV. Her ex- boyfriend lets himself into her bedroom window but she doesn't notice as she has back to the window while being on the phone. Her ex- boyfriend grabs her as he is holding a knife in his hand, she screams and tries to get away from him but he has a tight grip of the girl. Her aunt and uncle hear her scream and try to get into her room but the ex- boyfriend has put a set of draws in front of the door so they struggle to get in, They phone for help and the police manage to get into her room and pull the guy off her as she is pleading him to leave her alone.
• The ex- boyfriend gets sent to a clinic to help him with his mental disorder and the girl slowly moves on with her life, taking each day at a time.