Textual analysis of secondary research with conventions

Typical conventions for a horror trailer:

Normality disrupted

Action split up with credits

Music- fast pace, low drones, creating tension

Dramatic angles on camera

Dark and scary settings and weather- stormy day, church, clouds

The best bits are shown

Clear view of the storyline

Shows the well known actresses and actors

Supernatural elements

Titles mainly at the ending of the trailer

Screaming and commonly used dialogue ‘Help me’ ‘who’s there?’

Fast pace sections 

Camerawork:

Unlike many new horrors Insidious doesn't use the 'shaky camera effect' and instead it seems to use different camera angles, panning and a still camera throughout (maybe placed on a tripod). Close up shots are used for certain sections but mainly throughout the trailer their are long shots, reverse angle shots and also birds eye view shot as if someone is looking up to something on the roof. There is a lot of panning and a lot of zooming into close up shots from long shots. Overall i think that the camera work isn't too extreme which helps to not take away the actual filming itself and with the camera work that there is in the trailer enables the audience to get the most out of the storyline.

Mise en scene:

Costume: There are no real extremes within the costumes of the actors and actresses they are kept very normal and causal. This is to suggest the change of normality when the supernatural things start to happen, it enables the audience to believe that it could happen to them making it much scarier. It makes the storyline seem realistic as it shows a stereotypical family. The figure (demon) we see is hiding behind the husbands mother so we only see his shoulder where he is wearing black which was probably intended to focus the eye more on his face.

Make up: The normal actors and actresses make up is made to look casual however stressed at times typically the wife (bags under eyes). The make up of the devil figure uses reds and blacks with yellow eyes and jet black hair. This bases the make up on images of the devil itself. The make up of this demon type figure is well addressed to the audience what the character is and fits in well with the story line however only with a slight realism for me personally.

Lighting: Low key lighting throughout the trailer, the colour of the images and clips have been made darker also. Even when daylight is shown there is still an element of darkness within the image to make it very shadowy on certain objects and faces. Having it this way fits in with the horror conventions of darkness and also makes the trailer itself more eerie and frightening.

Facial expressions, positioning and body language: Most facial expressions within the trailer are very shocked, frightened and horrified apart from the clips showing normality as they are happy and smiley, this helps show the contrast between a normal life and the horror. Their body language also does this same thing and is mostly enclosed, up tight and frightened to show them scared however starts very relaxed. The facial expression of the figure is very menacing and with the grin on his face shocks and frightens the audience.

Settings and Props: Hospital, American style house and Attic- All horror related fitting in with the conventions and also sustaining the dark, scary feel while following a very traditional haunted house storyline throughout.

Sound: The bang/ crash sound of the production company is a good way to break the silence and even make some jump from the sudden sound, it also brings more interest to the production company. When the title comes up there is a technical distortion sound and apart from the main dialogue heard in the trailer there is elements of a low drone and wind sound behind most clips as well as the clicks from the start of the trailer. There are lots of crashes and bangs at the scary parts to make the audience jump and nearer to the ending the music gets loader with high pitch violins sounds with the low drone underneath. At the ending there is one last high pitched crash to draw further attention to the title and release date.

Duration: The trailer itself is 1 minute 50 seconds a typical time for trailers. As this trailer is gripping it gives enough time for the audience to grasp the storyline and actors and gives enough to promote the film. If the trailer was any longer then too much information will be let out and not enough will be left to intrigue the audience to find out more and want to go and see the film. As well as a trailer having to tease the audience into wanting to see the film if it was too long it would get boring and having a long winded, non interesting trailer means that audiences wont go and see the film. 

Editing: The editing within this trailer is also typical to the normal horror trailer as it is face pace showing the best sections of the film alongside portraying the storyline to the audience. The classification at the start is typical in many trailers to enable the right audiences are watching the trailer to not disturb certain viewers and It is a good idea to be put in when editing the trailer. The production company at the start is a typical technique within any trailer which is what this trailer does and creates the uses and gratification of personal identity to the audience as they will base thoughts on the production companies previous works. Having 'Insidious' and 'Is' after a couple of clips shows continuity as well as promoting the name of the film, this isn't a typical technique however i felt it worked well in this trailer making the trailer itself much more interesting. It speeds up much faster at the end also with the credits at the ending saying the date after the title shown again.