Trailers - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

What is a trailer? A trailer is an advertisement or preview for a film that will be shown in the future at a a cinema.

I am now going to analyse the following trailers:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

• The music in the trailer heightens the anticipation through use of enigma codes. The music creates the mood and the atmosphere.
• The credits displayed at the end of the trailer only consist of where the film will be playing and the production company which is Warner Bros. Pictures - The credits don't need to tell you the names of the actors or the director as it has been such a long sequel, so the audience are very familiar with them already:

• The Unique Selling Point (USP) of the film if that it is in 3D which also comes up in the credits at the end as this is a new concept used for the film:

• Rapid shots are used in the trailer - this is exciting for the audience
• The trailer doesn't follow a linear, chronological pattern
• The credits also show the release date at the end
• The trailer only shows the best bits of the film which gives the audience a taster and makes them want to go and see it at the cinema
• The tempo of the music creates a sense of urgency
• The credits help tell the story as they say 'this is the final book, will Harry Potter survive?

Trailers - Paranormal Activity 2

I watched the trailer of paranormal activity on Itunes and I evaluated it using 5 questions. Below is the paranormal activity trailer:

We are told the name of the movie at the end of the trailer as it keeps the audience gripped to find out what the name of the movie is.

we are not told who is starring in the movie as it is a sequel and the same actors/stars are used again.

We don't see any major action as the whole movie is done by hand held camera to give it a sense of realism. The major action of the trailer is of a man being thrown against the camera in the trailer, a dog braking and a child standing.

There are no music in the trailer as its is the sound of the natural environment. The trailer includes as scene where the audience is watching the trailer and they end up screaming.

The speed of the trailer stays the same as if you were watching the movie. The speed of it is very slow as they want to grip the audience into what is going to happen next. This also adds more drama to the horror movie even though not a lot is going on.

The information that was given in the very last frame of the trailer was the movie name and who directed it. In some cases it can also show the release date for people to go and see it.

You would expect to see this trailer during adverts in between TV shows and before a film viewing in the cinema. This technique is used to intrigue the viewer and so the audience won't forget it because of the way it catches their attention. This will make them want to go and see it as soon as it comes out.

Teaser Trailers

Teaser Trailers

As well as analysing official trailers, I have looked into teaser trailers. They are slightly different as they are much shorter and don't give out as much information about the film. Below I have identified the difference, as I would have to take all this information into consideration when producing my trailer.

Teaser trailers are usually made for big-budget and popularity themed movies. The purpose is to tell the audience less about a movie's content than simple to let them know that the movie is coming up in the near future, and to add to the hype of the upcoming release.

Teaser trailers are often made while the film is still in production or being edited and as a result they may feature scenes or alternate versions of scenes that are not in the finished film.

The following videos are of a teaser trailer and an official trailer:

Below is information in bullet point form about all the important features of teaser trailers:

Concept of Horror Film

During our lesson on the 14th of September, we got into our groups and brainstormed all our ideas about the general concept of a horror trailer. In our brainstorms, we discussed many different aspects of what would be involved with a horror movie. We mentioned what the different locations/setting are? e.g. park, woods, house at night.. What is Horror? e.g. scary. weary, dark, bloody.. Who are the audience? e.g. adults, teenagers.. What type of music/sound is used in Horror's? e.g. non diagetic, diagetic.. What type of props are used? e.g. knifes, chain-saw, blood & costumes.. What influences you towards your horror trailer/movie? e.g. research on other horror movies/trailers and find out what your audience want.. Below is a print screen of the task we carried out:

Conventions of a Film on Prezi

I carried out some research about 'What is Horror?' and below I have inserted a brainstorm I produced consisting of all the different elements associated with horror:

The Prezi slide I have inserted Below is to emphasize on horror characters a bit further. This shows all the different types of characters which have been used in previous horror films and gives me an idea on characters I can use for my horror trailer. Horror characters either look scary and are scary or they don't look scary at all but play a big part in the horror aspect of the film, for example they may use a cute young girl like in The Orphan but she turns out to be the horror character:

Horror Titles

During Mr Rosen's Lesson, we analysed different film titles displayed on different trailers. From the clues in the film titles, we were asked to evaluate what the image was trying to show. We looked at different styles and fonts, which were used to give us an insight on what the film is about. We were also told to debate on whether images or words are more important.

CASE 39

This font used for Case 39, gives us an idea that the film is associated with ghosts. This comes across through the spooky, glowing and shadowed handwriting they have used. We instantly get the impression that the film falls under the thriller/horror genre.

DUE DATE

The title for the film 'Due Date' does not really give the audience an insight on what genre the movie falls under. This is because they have used plain, block capital letters which could represent any type of genre. However, the image gives us the impression that it is a comedy, family film most probably about a pregnancy.

LET ME IN

When we look at the title for the film 'Let Me In' we instantly get the impression that it is a horror. This is mainly because the title is in red which, excluding the fact that it is romance because of the words, it is based on a bloody story line.

THE AMERICAN

The title 'The American' gives us the idea that the film is associated with American culture, patriotism, or possibly the American Dream. The image is George Clooney holding a gun which advertises that the film is most likely an action, possibly thriller. In this case, the image is more important than the words as the image advertises what the film is really about.

September Introduction 2010

For our A2 media coursework this year, we have formed a group of 3 which consists of me (Naresa Azemi), Rema Kadir - www.remakadir13.blogspot.com and Asma Begum - www.asma-year13horrormovie.blogspot.com. We have become part of this group in order to work towards our horror trailer. The three of us all specialise in different areas that will be needed when completing the coursework and we all have different qualities and skills that we can use.