Monday 14 December 2009

Trailer comparisons

Having looked at the three horror film trailers (The Exorcist, Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity) I have noted some ideas for my own horror trailer to bring back to my group when we come back from our Christmas holidays. These include Having a narrator and making the trailer dark. I have also learned how horror film trailers have changed over time.

The first trailer I looked at (which you can also view on this blog) is the Exorcist , arguably the greatest and scariest horror film of all time. The trailer is dark and sets the tone for the film itself and unlike most film trailers it doesn't give away the best/scariest parts of the film, however you do see a small glimpse of the young girl in the film who gets possessed at her most shocking state.The trailer also has a narrator who with his low tone and deep voice makes the trailer seem even scarier just like the film.

The second film trailer I looked at was Poltergeist, a film about a family who finally find their dream home, they eventually find that an evil spirit does not want them in the house and horrible things start to happen as this evil spirit haunts them out.

The final trailer I reviewed is Paranormal Activity, I found this was a very smart trailer since it's different compared to most other trailers. You see a group of people viewing the film Paranormal Activity rather than bits of the film. Unfortunately this film does give away probably most of the scary moments in the ,however it still is a good film (baring in mind its just as funny as it is scary apart from the final scene which was very scary in my mind.)
This trailer shows people's reactions to the film and as you will see they are very scared and it is very tempting to see "what the big deal is all about" and go and see the film. This is a good idea to get people to come and see the film. Another thing that may suggest that you should see this film is the comments you see during the trailer which include "one of the scariest films of all time" which having already decided that the Exorcist is the scariest of all time (just ask the people who ran out of the cinemas scared and started fainting). This may persuade you to come and see the film to try and decide for yourself which is a very clever way of selling it. Having seen this film myself its also an unorthodox film as well as the trailer, as it is filmed like a documentary not a film with no credits before or even after the film.

Wednesday 2 December 2009

New trailer for Paranormal activity

This is a new trailer for paranormal activity. I will review all three trailers on my blog and compare the differences along with listing what I think are the best bits.



Narrative - About a girl, (Katie) that is being haunted by a demon ever since she was little. Katie is now a adult and has a boyfriend (micah) that she is living with because of the demon is haunting her and making her life a misery. Her boyfriend decides to catch the 'paranormal activity' on camera and in the end her boyfriend dies trying to protect katie.After the young, couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban “starter” tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that a demon but is certainly most active in the middle of the night.

Starring - Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer.

Target audience - 18 to 30 year olds.

Music/sounds - Starts of with muted drum that's like a heart beat, this stops when the movie is about to start. This sounds makes it sound like something bad it about to happen, makes the audience feel tense. A sound of a spirit swooping pass the camera. Floor boards creak as if someone it sneaking about. These sounds makes the audience feel there's a spirit that it in the same room as them. A loud bang (with reactions of load screaming of fear from the audience). Shocks the audience as they don't know it is going to happen, makes them jump. All these sounds are very powerful and frightens the audience.

Camera angle/shot types - The camera is hand held throughout the whole trailer. There are a numerous camera angles, it starts off by showing the audience then it shows the film, this is done repeatedly throughout. This is a good affect as you get to see the audiences reactions to the film. The camera shots are long when showing the film but when the camera shows the audience it is a close-shot, this shows the audiences faces and shows them being scared.

Written Text - There are only written text at the beginning and the end of the trailer. The writing at the beginning of the trailer explains a bit about the film trailer its self. The next shot has white writing at the bottom left corner which tells you the date the first screening was, the 1st screening is the film trailer. The end of the film trailer it says 'one of the most scariest movies of all time' this persuades the viewer to watch it so they can say the have watched the most scariest movie ever and to see if they can handle it. It has more similar writing trying to persuade you to watch it.

How the audience was addressed - This film succeeds in it's purpose to scare the audience by raising tension and as this happens the slow scary low pitched music gets louder. Although the trailer gives away most of the scary moments apart from the final scene (which was very scary). This film doesn't rely overly on special effects but more on tension building and the audiences imagination.

Research of horror trailers (Poltergeist)

The is the second horror trailer that I have researched. I have decided to look at the differences between new and old horror film trailers.