The first thing I notice about this trailer is that all the main protagonists in the trailer are dressed normal. This represents that before the disequilibrium happens, everything was reasonably normal and easily related to real life. Furthermore, the ambient music also creates a sence of norm and calmness, soon to be broken. Also, one of the girls in the car are wearing a cowboy hat, and the movie is set in the south of the USA, and cowboy hats are a national icon of states such as Texas. There are several other icons of southern USA such as the dusty roads and the mini-van that the cast are driving in.
As the antagonists are introduced, a girl sees a figure run. Typically the strong male character calls out the figure in an act of heroism, which is one of the conventions of a horror film. Also, the music change from nice clam, abstract music swiftly changes into tense string music, suggesting to the audience that there is is something wrong. Furthermore, every so often the camera cuts back to a girl claiming "We're all gonna die" which helps indicate to the audience that the characters know something is wrong and that they fear it. In addition, throughout the trailer it shows scenes of the characters in distressing situations, then an old fashion camera flash happens. This makes it seem like the characters are a memory suggesting that in the film they will see their demise.
The font used to introduce the writer also fits the era where the film is set, as it looks like the font has been typed on a typewriter. Also, as the writers name is on the screen, it cuts to a black screen and we hear a your female scream "somebody help me." This helps add mystery to the trailer as the audience doesn't know what the girl wants help from, due to the black screen. After the scream we hear foot steps as well as chains, which is one of the only hints in the trailer as to who the antagonist actually is. Suddenly it cuts to a shot of a girl screaming with the sound of a chainsaw, which confirms to the audience that the film is a horror and will contain plenty of blood and gore. As well as the string music picking up to further add a tense feel to the trailer. Also, a high angle shot coming out of a cellar is used, and a man shuts on cellar door on the camera. This would've been used as a first person shot to suggest that the man was locking someone, or something, into the cellar.
A further hint as to who the killer is reveled as there is a long shot showing the killer walking towards the camera while in a shroud of shadows. This helps add further mystery to the film trailer. Furthermore, as the trailer progresses the lighting on the set seems to be getting darker and darker suggesting the tone of the film is also getting darker and darker. One more hint as to who the killer is is used when we see a high angle shot of the killer closing a sliding door. The high angle shot suggests the the killer is more powerful that the rest of the protagonists. The trailer then suddenly cuts to black, still with the ambient string music in the background and the name of the film appears in a shadow dropping font. The shadow dropping suggests that in the movie shadows could play a key roll.
Some ideas i could take from this trailer is to use the shadows plenty to add a sence of unknown, as this will add one key convention of horror movies to my trailer, as well as adding much more dramatic effect. Also, this trailer has influenced me to give the beggining of my trailer a sence of norm, and not just dive right into the action.
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