My Teaser Trailer - Analysis

Jordan Baldock

At the start of my trailer I applied the appropriate audience “green – screen” as this was a common convention with all the teaser trailers I analysed. I decided to add this convention as it gave my trailer an authentic look even though it did not officially get approved by a media governing body such as Ofcom.

This frame shows the production company that produced the film. Obviously this production company does not actually exist however from my teaser trailer analysis I identified this as a convention that all trailers use. The main purpose is for advertisement of that production company, however I still added one to my trailer as it gave a more professional feel to my trailer. “flip pictures” is a name I created therefore there is no copyright issues.

This is the first actual shot of my trailer, the shot used is an establishing long shot which helps set the location for the viewer. The character can be seen walking from left to right, therefore explains to the viewer that he is walking down the road. However does not identify where he is going or where he has come from which encourages the viewer to continue watching. As well as the visual on screen eerie low pitch non-diegetic atmospheric music begins to play which helps add tension and also helps the genre be identified.

This next shot is another long-shot and is also combined with a pan which follows the path of the character further down the road. This shot is taken through a hedge, with the leaves in the fore-ground and the character in the background, this not only adds depth to the shot but really gives the impression that he is being watched and followed as it is a POV shot of his attacker following him. This particular location was chosen as it gave us the appropriate light for filming from the street light as well as giving us the silhouette effect.

This next shot is a medium close-up POV shot and allows us to see through the eyes of the attacker. This shot also emphasises that victim is being followed and is not yet aware that someone is behind him. During this the atmospheric music continues to play and tension heightens as the attacker gets closer to the victim. Once again this location was chosen as it provided us with a night scene but enough lighting to see characters, I also liked the way in which the light created shadowing. The location for this part of the scene is in a dark alleyway and this creates those feelings of being isolated and alone, both of which are common horror conventions. As the victim turns to see if anyone is following him I added another layer of sound, to build the tension in the final part. The audio rises in pitch and volume until the shot ends.

This is the final shot of the trailer, once the high pitched tense music reaches its highest point and ends the scene briefly goes to silence before the victim turns round and sees the attacker standing there. This moment is synchronised with a one loud metallic sound that emphasises the significant of this moment to the viewer. The aim of this shot synchronised with the music was also to shock/scare the viewer as hopefully they were not expecting what was about to happen. Again the lighting of this shot allows us to see a ‘figure’ however is identity is unknown which ties in with the title of the screen which follows shortly after. The body language of the actor here is also meant to enhance the theme of danger, as he is standing still looking towards the camera which gives him a menacing feel. This also ties in with the convention that most attackers in horror films remain anonymous.

This shot shows the title screen at the end of the film, this is typically when trailers pass information to the viewer as they have just been drawn in by the trailer and paying attention to the events on the screen. Had this information been provided at the start of the trailer the viewer may not be paying attention and would not acknowledge the name of the film. I chose to use this convention and also leave the title name up for a longer period of time than other shots. This allows the viewer to remember the name of the film and really emphasises the name. I also used a horror-themed font which again helps to clearly identify the genre to the viewer, and the use of colours (white on black) makes it easily readable.

Finally the trailer ends with a title screen reading “coming soon”, the font used is the same as that for the title of the film and helps to keep everything succinct and still specific to the genre. This screen is obviously used to inform the viewer of the films future release however does not read a specific date, this is because from my research I found that teaser trailers are released so far in advance of the film the actual date is not used. Not only that but by being vague and putting “coming soon” it makes people want to go on the internet/social networking sites to find out more about this film.