Trailers

What are Trailers? on Prezi

A trailer aims to give the audience information about the film and the genre is important in this because our decision about what to see will partly depend upon whether we enjoy other similar films. We automatically 'decode' what we see and hear to establish the films genre, such as if we see dark shadowy figures and hear scary music we instantly know this is a film in the horror genre. These recognizable sounds and images are called conventions of the genre and occasionally a film will be a hybrid of more than one genre and it may take us more time to decide what the genre is. This widens the potential audience and is a good strategy for getting more people to watch the film. The stars of the films also help us establish what genre it is because we associate certain actor/actresses with genres such as if we see Jack Black we usually associate him with comedy. This will encourage the target audience to see the film and therefore help the chances of it becoming a 'box office hit'.

Whilst the marketing campaign uses genre to gain our interest, it must also show us a unique selling point because this shows us that the film is worth going to see because it has something different about it. The unique selling point could be many things for example; an unusual hybrid of genres e.g. musical horror, it may be the innovative use of special effects, it could even be a star playing against their usual 'type' e.g. an actor known for action films playing the role of an emotional character. The USP is important for the marketing campaign as it sets each release apart from its rivals.

Original Story (Planning) - If You Dare

Proposal of Ideas: After analysing different trailers individually and discussing ideas as a group our proposal of ideas started with  a very complicated narrative, as you can see from the mind map I have created above we have a lot of ideas proposed but as a group we felt that we couldn't carry this out as a professional looking piece therefore we decided  to change to a much simpler narrative. We also got feedback from our target audience and they said that they preferred the simpler narrative so we decided to film that one although we also did all the planning for the more complicated narrative to compare the two and see what one was best. 

We have chosen the genre as a group and have all agreed that the genre we have chosen will be the most effective. Our film's genre is a horror and it will fit into the sub genre of a psychological horror. This sub genre relies on supernatural events and the characters fears of a mysterious antagonist. It also contains less violence and gore but more spooky and eerie happenings such as a door slamming on its own which creates tension and fear in the audience because they will want to know who did it thus creating suspense. The antagonist is usually a supernatural being such as a spirit, demon or ghost or a masked and unknown person and this character will not usual being shown to the audience to create suspense and make them want to know who it is. To be effective this type of sub genre has to mentally/ psychologically affect the audience and make them scared. 

It is aimed at teenagers and young adults and we will make sure that our target audience will be attracted to watch the film through the types of characters, the narrative and the mise en scene which includes the costume and make-up which will make a big impact in drawing the audience in. We have chosen to make our film a teenage/ young adult horror because we can show this effectively as we know what an audience of our age would want and expect, also most horror films are aimed at teenagers and young adults because they are excited by this type of genre.

Our group decided to make our film a hybrid of psychological horror because we believe that we could represent this genre the best out of all the possible choices. For example we don't need to have lots of gore and blood which is needed in slash horrors and this would be hard to portray in a professional manner. Instead we will use special effects, props, camera angles and our acting skills to make the trailer look professional and show our supernatural events more effectively. We will also make our posters and front covers effective with our choice of props, costume and make-up.                                                                                                                  
We have been researching different horror films/ television shows to gain ideas for our trailer and I believe that we could use ideas from 'Are you afraid of the dark?' because we could do this realistically on our budget.

Character Analysis:

Character Analysis on Prezi

This is the actress Reena, who will be playing the character Skye. As shown in the above picture she is wearing a short dress with high heels and she has long hair and is wearing lots of make-up, this makes her look very feminine. This will attract our main target audience of teenagers and young adults because they are attracted by sex appeal. She is wearing black and red which is a common convention of horror films as these two colours are associated with anger, death and evilness but red also connotes lust and love which hints that she is in lust or love with someone. The girls of Sorority Row are shown here mostly in dark coloured, short feminine dresses and high heels which support the conventions of females in teenage horror films.

This is the actor Raymond, who was going to be playing Sean. But our group decided to make our trailer more simple and only include one main character which is Skye and there will also be an unknown antagonist. We decided to change our characters because we went through many options and also got audience feedback from people in the age range of our target audience to see what narrative they would prefer and they chose the simpler narrative which does not include Sean's character. We felt that the reason behind our decision was valid and our teaser trailer will be more effective than our original narrative.

This is the actress Gagan who was going to be playing Jane. But our group decided to make our trailer more simple and only include one main character which is Skye and there will also be an unknown antagonist. We decided to change our characters because we went through many options and also got audience feedback from people in the age range of our target audience to see what narrative they would prefer and they chose the simpler narrative which does not include Jane's character. We felt that the reason behind our decision was valid and our teaser trailer will be more effective than our original narrative.

Narrative Structure:

This was our original narrative but we felt that this would be too complicated fro it to work out on our budget and time schedule and we also asked for audience feedback and they also said that they would prefer to have a simpler narrative therefore we decided to change our narrative although we still finished the planning of the old one just to see what one was the best. 


1) The equilibrium will be at the beginning of the trailer because the narrative starts off with three teenagers chilling out in Skye's house. This includes Skye played by Reena, Jane played by Gagan and Sean played by Raymond. This will attract our target audience of teenagers and young adults because this will be a reflection of the target audience because they will be around the same age. The girls will be portrayed as being very sexy and feminine which will also attract the target audience because they will be drawn in by the sex appeal. They will all be drinking alcohol which is another factor that attracts the target audience because it adds excitement and most teenagers are interested in alcohol. Skye is the more confident character out of the girls and she forces Jane to drink the alcohol. Whilst they are drinking they are also joking and laughing about with each other but both the girls like Sean. Although both of the girls like Sean, he only likes Skye and Jane is jealous of this fact. The fact that both of them like him will be shown by Skye fliting with him and Jane having jealous facial expressions.

2) They soon get bored so they decide to go out and take a walk in the park, as they are walking there will be a shot in the trailer of a swing swinging on its own mysteriously to give the illusion of something following them. They walk out of the park and into the woods and start messing about and pushing each other in a joking sort of way.

3) They start playing dares and when it comes to Sean's turn Skye dares him to kiss her, which shows that she is slutty. Skye knows that Jane likes Sean but she kisses just to make her jealous. When Skye and Sean kiss this gets Jane jealous. The kiss will attract our target audience because they will be drawn in by the sex appeal.

4) As they are walking in the woods they spot a scary, abandoned house and because Skye is flirting and trying to seduce Sean, Jane gets upset and walks off in a huff. Jane goes into the house that they spotted earlier and finds a mysterious aray of objects, which includes an old book of all the people that have been possessed in the house and some diagrams, spells and chants.

5) Jane puts the book down adn walks around the room. She finds a doll on the floor and picks it up which then leads to a flash back of a little girl playing on the floor with the doll and then getting killed. After this flash back she puts the doll back down and walks back to the book

6) She starts looking at the book again and it becomes apparent that this book has some magical power and because she is angry and jealous she gets some revenge on Skye out of spite. She didn't really think that it would be successful but when the reality that the power of the book is real Jane's action suddenly become frightenly real and she but regrets it immediately but it is too late.

7) We will show intercut shots of Jane skimming over the book and Skye becoming evil, we will show this by Sean and Skye kissing and Skye is all over him in a manic way. When he pulls away he is bleeding and she also has blood all over her lips, this is when Sean realises something is wrong. He starts backing away and runs into the house to get Jane and we will have a shot of Jane with the book looking scared. The door slams shut closing Jane and Sean inside and they both back away from the door in a frightened manner. The door will be glowing which will create a eerie atmosphere.

8) Skye manages to get into the house by the breaking door down in a spoooky and scary way as the door just bursts open and then it shuts again when she is inside. The scene becomes very scary and we will shoot shots of the room from a low angle to create a spooky atmosphere, Sean and Jane banging on the door trying to get out, the wheelchair shooting across the room and the doll in an extreme close up and the sound of children laughing which is a convention in horror films.

9) This is when the horror starts therefore the shots will get faster at this point, we will have flashes of the evil doll, frightened facial expressions of the characters, the spell book with the pages being flicked, a beam with Jane's name craved in it to show that she did this all because her hearts broken, things falling on their own. 

10) To protect themselves from Skye Sean ties her to a wheelchair that they found in the house and she is trying to escape and starts screaming and struggling in the wheelchair which will be an effective scene in the trailer because it will add tension as the audience will want to know if she escapes or not.

11) Skye breaks the rope with her bare hands and escapes from the wheelchair and because she is possessed she tries to kill Jane by hitting her from behind, the next scene will be Jane being dragged on the floor by Skye and the audience won’t know the outcome, therefore the audience will have to watch the film to find out if she survives or not.

12) The last shot of the trailer will be an extreme close up of her eye which will be edited red as this is a convention of horror films. Then there will be a black flash and the title will  be shown on the screen as an inter-title and the voiceover will say "If you dare" in a deep and mysterious voice.

We were also going to add inter-titles to help the audience understand the narrative. These will say "This winter... One guy... Two girls... Who will get him?... Jane didn't know what she was getting herself into.. Until it was too late.. Coming to a cinema near you... If you Dare"

This mood board conveys the type of horror trailer we were going to make, it includes a scary possessed doll, a freaky wheelchair and an old book spell book. It also includes images of the type of location the trailer will be shot in, this is a haunted house, a scary deserted swing at a park, the woods and a loft. These images are all of the horror genre and are all relevant to my own trailer, however as a group we decided to go through different narratives and decide on the best one therefore in the end we decided to follow our audience feedback and make the simpler narrative.

Mood Board (OLD) on Prezi

Here are some of the still camera pictures that we took whilst filming our original narrative:

Original Planning Still Photographs on Prezi

Sorority Row Analysis

Sorority Row 
Directed by Stewart Hendler

Release Date: 9th September 2009 (UK)

Length:2.31

Genre: Sorority Row is a horror genre film, this is a popular film genre as it is widely watched by many teenagers and young adults. The target audience is obvious because the trailer shows many scenes that teenagers and young adults would be attracted to such as the scenes which have sex appeal to attract the young audience who are interested in sex. The narrative also shows who the target audience is because it has a plot that would interest teenagers and young adults as older and more sophisticated audiences would not be interested in this narrative and would think it is mediocre.

audience:  The target audience is young adults; this is reflected through the narrative and the characters of the film. The age certification is rated 15 because of the number of gruesome and violent scenes such as at when the boy stab the girl that he thought was dead. This scene includes lots of blood and horrific scenes which would be unsuitable for young children.

There are also scenes which instantly grab the attention of the audience such as at the beginning it shows fast shots of a typical day at the college which all look like fun kind of party scenes. At 0.07 seconds it shows a scene of a girl and boy looking happy with alcoholic drinks and also at 0.15 seconds there is a shot of a party scene where everyone has alcoholic drinks in their hands; this suggests that drinking alcohol is a past time makes them happy. Also the fact that it has a age certification rating of 15 will attract older audience because they will know that the film will be scary as it is it unsuitable for children under that specific age. The music used in the trailer also shows who the target audience is because it is music that people would usually associate with young people because it is pop and current kind of music.

The characters are portrayed as being 'sexy', this is shown through different mediums of mise en scene such as their costumes and make-up which includes high heels, short skirts, low cut tops and lots of make-up, this will attract both male and female teenagers and young adults because the male audience will be attracted by the sex appeal and the female audience will be attracted by the fact that the characters may be a reflection of them as they may dress in a similar way.

Institutional Identity: The institutional identity is ‘Summit Entertainment’ which is shown for second flashes on and off the screen at 0.18-0.19 seconds, this is just after the equilibrium and just before the conflict, this is very effective as it keeps the audience interested and it acts like a barrier between the end of the normal everyday life scenes and start of the horror scenes. It is a legal requirement for all film trailers to include the institutional identity logo and it is also useful to attract audiences as they will be able to associate the institutional identity to another film that they have seen made by them.

Characters: There are six main characters who are the sorority sisters; they are presented as being young and good looking female teenagers who are all interested in the same subjects such as boy and sex. Their image of being young and good-looking is shown by their costumes, e.g. they are wearing make-up high heels, short skirts, dresses and ‘sexy’ tops, and this will attract the target audience because young people are usually attracted by sex appeal and pretty women. This is the stereotypical type of female characters used in teenage horror films because it attracts the main target audience. The sex appeal is shown clearly in the trailer as one of the characters takes her top off, at 0.21 and 0.27 seconds there is a boy and girl kissing passionately on a bed and there are various shots of girls with bikinis on. This is a great selling mechanism for the film as the audience will instantly want to watch the film.

The sorority sisters are shown to be very strong and powerful women in the begging of the trailer and also as they are playing the prank of the boy but as the trailer progresses they loose this power and the atmosphere of the trailer changes dramatically, this a key feature to the trailer as the audience are suddenly attracted to the enigma. This change brings a unknown hooded character into the trailer who is the antagonist as they start killing the sorority sisters. This type of hooded and dark costume is a convention of antagonists costume in horror films as it adds mystery because you cannot see who it is, this makes the audience want to watch the film to find out.

Pace: The pace of the trailer starts off quite fast for the first 8 seconds whilst it is showing just everyday normal activities for the sorority sisters in college life. However it unfolds as the characters are introduced into the trailer, the reason the trailer started with very fast cuts was to grab the audience's attention and make them want to see more. As the horror unfolds after the inter-title 'A prank' is flashed on the scene the pace gets much faster, this is a typical convention of horror trailers because they mostly start off as normal day situations to make the narrative have a sense of mundane realism.. At 1.24 minutes the pace slows down but it soon picks up speed again at 1.38 minutes after a black transition and the trailer continues to have a fast pace until the end of the trailer. It is effective to build up pace and have a change of pace throughout the trailer as it adds enigma, it makes the audience anxious and it also keeps them wanting to know more about what will happen next.

Unique selling point:  There are three main unique selling points of this trailer. The first one is the horror genre as this attracts an age range of teenagers and young adults and this is a conventional subject of many horror films, the second is the director, Stewart Hendler who is well known for horror films therefore the audience would associate him with good horror films and the third is the institutional identity as they have also made films such as the 'Twilight' films which is also aimed at teenagers and young adults thus the same type of audience may be interested in seeing this film.

Narrative: The narrative is six sorority sisters who play a prank on a guy that they wanted to punish for cheating on one of them. They played the prank but it ended up going very wrong as the boy who the prank was being played on thought the girl was  really dead and he stabbed her when they were going to 'get rid' of the body. The fact that the narrative includes pranks shows that the characters are young, rebellious and immature therefore it will attract to the target audience as they are young adults. There is a scene of the boy stabbing the girl that he thought was dead but they were actually just playing a prank on him, this is when the trailers horror started unraveling and it became very gruesome and bloody. The other five sorority sisters try to cover up her death and ultimately have a serial killer chasing them all one by one.

Shots Types/Number of Shots: The trailer starts with close up of the six sorority sisters, this instantly establishes who the main characters are. The shot types are mainly close ups and medium shots, these are used to show key features of characters and the facial expressions, and this is important because it will help convey the message about the characters emotions to the audience but it doesn’t give the whole narrative away. A few long shots were used to set the scene and to show specific important scenes. Long shots also establish settings and it helps the audience follow the narrative as if the setting changes they will immediately know that it is a different scene. There are also many medium shots used to show the characters actions such as when they are dancing or at parties. A medium shot is used when the boy stabs the girl that he thought was dead, this was a very important scene in the trailer as it is when the real horror starts and the whole atmosphere of the trailer changes into a horror one, Hand held camera shots are used when showing the sorority sisters at the party and also as the tension is building up as they are driving in the car and the boy is scared, this is a typical convention in horror films as it gives a sense of mundane realism to the trailer. Another convention in horror films is an extreme close up of a characters eye which is used in this trailer as one of the sorority sisters gets killed.

Sound/Dialogue/Voiceover: The first dialogue in the trailer is “I hope as you girls prepare to go out in the real world, the things you have learnt at Theta PI will help you do the right thing” this dialogue is said by a teacher and is a hint to the audience that the sorority sisters will do the opposite of what the teacher says which is a sign of them being rebellious, this is very common in teenage horror films and will draw the audience in as they will want to see if the girls listened to the teacher or not. At 0.24 seconds one of the sorority sisters says "You cheat on one Theta you cheat on every Theta' and another says 'That boy needs to be taught a lesson", this shows that they are all the same and all stick together. The dialogue is mostly of conversations which have keywords such as kill, prank, dead, cheat and Theta Pi in them, these are specific words that are associated with this specific film but some of the words are also very conventional for American teenage horror films. When the horror unravels one of the sisters says "there's no way out of this", in a panicking way and another replies with "maybe there is" in a confident way, this shows that she is the leader of the group and they will follow what she says. 
The sound used is music which has a fast beat, the music is pop genre and is the type of music associated with teenagers, this clarifies who the main target audience is and will attract them to want to watch the film.  At 0.28 seconds the music changes dramatically to a type of comedy style music and the girls are laughing which shows that the girls are slightly immature and it establishes that they are playing a prank. At 0.40 seconds the music changes even further with a  song that says "they did a bad, bad thing" in a deep masculine voice which creates tension. Then at 0.56-1.00 there is no more music but instead dialogue of one of the sisters but suddenly at 1.01 minutes there is a scream when the boy stabs the girl he thought was dead, the scream is a common convention in horror trailers because it shows fear or that someone is being hurt/tortured or killed. At this point the music changes to scary and mysterious typical horror style music which establishes that the horror has really started. At the inter-titles from this point there is a drum like sound which is very powerful and sets the tense atmosphere. At 1.20 minutes there is a faint beeping sound which transitions into a crowd cheering and a speech made by one of the Theta girls about the girl that died and then her phone starts beeping which makes everyone silent and creates tension in the trailer. 
At the end of the trailer there is chanting of the Theta Pi sorority song, this is chanted in a scary childish like way which is a convention of horror films to use children chanting because it is very spooky. Then suddenly there is a transition to the girls screaming which adds a sense of mayhem to the trailer, as the shots get faster the music gets more frightening such as the drum beats this ultimately adds tension. The music and sounds gets  tenser throughout the trailer to build suspense for the audience making them wonder what will happen next, this is also a convention of horror movies as it adds suspense and keeps the audience wanting more. 

Credits/Inter-titles: The inter-titles are in a white typeface on a black background which makes it stand out, the inter-titles are in a simple font in the beginning but they get more graphic as the trailer progresses for example some have a white glow with a blue tint in them and in the ‘O’ there is a line through it which is the logo of the girls sorority but it also suggests ‘no entry’ and there is a slight degraded affect which is typical in horror trailers because the degraded font suggests everything is falling apart.

‘A prank… no one would ever forget… a secret… no one would ever tell… sisters for life… and death’, these key phrases have been used to give the audience information and a basic view of the narrative. Inter-titles are used in most film trailers to help the audience understand more as they may be confused by just watching.

Transitions/Editing/Special effects: The transitions are mostly fast shots from the beginning until the end, this is to create excitement and they get faster towards the end to keep the audience interested. Some of the shots are edited by having a whiter flash at the end of the shot; this is usually after the main shots such as after the girl and boy kissing, after the killing and after the graduation. These are scenes that group the plot together therefore they are key scenes that help clarify the narrative.
There are a few special effects in this trailer such as explosions and also a ‘T’ being thrown towards the camera and whilst the girl is getting killed there is a black and white effect on her while she is screaming. These special effects create scary scenes and audience may be frightened by this. Special effects are a common convention used in horror films because they add excitement and can sometimes be used to show supernatural things which are usually found in horror films.

Mise En Scene: The mise en scene used in the beginning of the trailer shows typical everyday mise en scene, for instance the settings are a normal school and party scene and the lighting in the beginning is just average day lighting but as the trailer progresses and the horror unravels the lighting becomes darker which ultimately creates tension. This is a convention in horror film trailers because it is more effective to have the horror progressing rather than showing it straight away because it won't keep the audience wanting more.
The costume and make-up the characters are wearing in the beginning of the trailer are typical teenage clothing and make-up however the sorority sisters are portrayed as being 'sexy' which is shown through their costume such as skirts, tight tops and high heels, this appeals to the target audience of teenagers and young adults. This will be the type of costume and make-up we will be using in our horror trailer therefore we have used some ideas from Sorority Row such as wearing really high heels and red lipstick.
The props used are the object the boy uses to kill the girl, this is a key prop because the point when it is used is when the real horror starts which is a changing point in the narrative.The setting and spacing is usual everyday setting in the beginning until the point where the girls are playing the prank on the boy and they all go to a deserted, dark and scary looking place and he kills her, this setting is very conventional of horror films as it looks very eerie. At 0.57 seconds there is a scene of all the characters going to find things to get rid of the body with but at this point they were still playing the prank. The setting is all dark and black with a red glow in the corner which are conventional colours of horror films as they are associated with death and danger. All of the characters are spaced out at this point which is also a convention of scenes in horror films because if all the characters are separated it gives them more chance of something happening to them rather than when they are all united. 

Disturbia Trailer Analysis

Disturbia

Directed by D. J. Caruso

Release Date:

14 September 2007 (UK)

Length:2.24

Genre: Disturbia is a hybrid genre of horror and thriller. It contains typical conventions of horror/thriller films such as;  keeping the audience on the edge of their seat, shown for example through a shot of a character screaming as if she is being attacked. This creates enigma as the audience are not given a full explanation of what is going on but they have an instinct that she is going to die. Creating a hybrid genre appeals to a wider audience this is because people that enjoy both horror films and thriller films will want to watch it.

Audience: The main target audience is teenagers and young adults, this is shown through the age of the characters as they are mostly good looking and young therefore the audience will be able to relate to the characters. The audience are also attracted by the fast pace and action of the trailer. The age certification is age 15 which widens the potential audience, although the film has a lot of sex appeal but it does not show full on sex scenes which is why the age rating is lower than 18. There are also scenes of violence in the trailer which explains why it has a higher age certification. The narrative that is portrayed also shows who the target audience is because older audiences would most probably find the narrative uninteresting because it is about young teenagers trying to find out if their neighbor is a serial killer, this will seem very mediocre to an older more sophisticated audience.  Audiences would be attracted to this narrative because of the main focus,  at the start of the trailer is focused on sex appeal such as scenes of kissing or scenes with half nudity and then the trailer goes into violent scenes which would also attract the main target audience.  The music would also be appealing to a younger audience because it is contemporary pop kind of music which is usually associated with young people.

Institutional Identity: DreamWorks SKG and A Montecito Picture Company Production- the logo’s of both companies are shown for 2 second in the beginning of the trailer. This is a convention of most film trailers because it is a legal requirement and the audience can also relate this film to a film they have previously seen by the same institutions’.

Characters:There are four main characters which include Kale, his best friend, the girl next door and the antagonist. Most of the characters are young and good looking except for the antagonist; this will appeal to the target audience as they are also young. The characters facial expressions and personalities are emphasized through close up shots and scenes, such as when there is a medium shot of the antagonists face in the window of his house; his facial expression was scary because he was staring at Kale as if he knew that Kale was spying on him and he had a glaze in his eyes. He is expressionless and the connotations of this is that he is hard faced, remorseless and this makes the audience believe he is the ‘baddy’.
This is one of the main questions raised in the trailer, ‘Is the man really a killer?’ another question for the trailer is 'will the good guys stay alive?' The audience will want to find out this question therefore the only way they can know is if they watch the film. There are stereotypical characters for example the scary middle aged man as the antagonist and good looking teenagers as the protagonists.
The audience is made to sympathise with the younger characters for example the ‘sexy’ girl is a convention used in a lot of horror films to attract the young teenage audience and because the audience will feel sorry for her if she gets killed. They have also created a link between her and the young male, making their relationship something the audience want to see grow and not threatened by the killer.

Pace: The pace of the trailer starts slowly, but as the narrative unravels at 45 seconds it speeds up. The speed is picked up by the use of quick transitions and shorter shots, giving the impression of a more action packed and thrilling film. This effect creates excitement and suspense to the audience; therefore it is a good strategy to use in trailers as it will draw the audience in.
 

Unique Selling Point: The unique selling point of the film is the horror/thriller genre. This is a typical way of making a film sell more as having a hybrid of two genres doesn't just target one specific audience, instead it allows two types of people that like two different genres to enjoy this film as it meets the needs of both types of audience.

Narrative:  The narrative of the trailer is that Kale who is a teenage boy and the main protagonist in the film gets in trouble with the police which ultimately makes him have a tag. He was put under house arrest and the audience knows this as in the trailer there is a close up of the tag being put on his foot in the beginning of the trailer. The tag is shown in three close ups which emphasizes the fact that he is a bit of a ‘bad boy’ this will appeal to a teenage audience as it creates a bit of excitement. It has a picture of a skull on it which adds enigma as the audience will be wondering why he has something that resembles death on the tag; this brings up various connotations such as death.

Whilst he was on house arrest he became bored quickly but soon found interesting things to do while he was at home 24/7; one of them being spying on the neighbours! As days went on him and his friend noticed that a girl had just moved in next door, conveniently she was around the same age as him and very pretty, the two soon became good friends. The trailer shows that the film has a romantic aspect and also quite a lot of sex appeal to it as there is are shots where girls are shown in bikinis, a woman dancing in ‘a sexy way’ and couples kissing and one man is even shown cheating on his wife, this widens the target audience but it mainly appeals to young people as they are interested in sex. Whilst they spent more time together, Ashley also got involved with the spying and they soon discovered something that they wished they hadn’t; they were living next door to a heartless and manipulating serial killer! 

The trailer is fast paced, gripping and frightening as the audience will want to know if the killer gets caught. The audience know the neighbour is a killer because there are shots of him which convey this; for example the scene at 1.08 where he is holding a knife in his hand and twirling it in a disturbing way, this is shown through the view of Kale's video camera which makes it more effective as the audience can see what it is like from Kale's point of view. Then at 1.12 the woman is pushed onto the window as if she is being attacked and the audience can see her facial expressions through a close up shot of her face where she looks extremely distressed, this gives the audience the impression that she is being attacked by the man and finally at 1.18 there is the sound of her screaming thus the audience get the hint that she has been killed presumably by the knife he was holding earlier. There are more scenes where it is suggested that he is a serial killer such as at 0.50 where blood splatters on his window. 

Whilst Kale is in the antagonist's house he is walking down to the basement and he says 'Mum' which tells the audience that the reason he went into the house was to find and save his mum. The trailer conveys the narrative a bit too well because it gives away too much of the narrative. The trailer tells you almost the plot of the film which can work against the film as the audience won’t be intrigued to find out more, the only question raised is if the protagonist will make sure the antagonist is caught and will Kale get caught by the killer as he is in his house. At 2.01 the killer is watching Kale from outside which is a typical convention of horror movies as the audience know where the killer is but the protagonist doesn't therefore it adds enigma as to whether he will get out alive or not.

Shot types: There are a lot of shots used to show the narrative of the trailer and get the audience drawn in by the amount of exciting scenes. Most of the shots are long shots from Kale’s point of view as he in spying and close up which emphasise the characters facial expressions which adds excitement and also enigma to the trailer. At 0.07 seconds there is a close up shot of half of Kale's face which shows his concentration, this gives the audience the feeling that he is doing something important but then the shots fades in a long shot of him sticking cakes together, this shows he is extremely bored.  
At 0.22 minutes there is a shot of four scenes in one as a split screen effect, this is effective as it lets the audience see who Kale is spying on through the window. One of the images is a close up of Kale with his binoculars and then it changes to a man playing with a ball with his son. This is a sign of realism as it is something that happens every day. The others are long shots to give the impression that it is exactly what from Kale's point of view, there is a girl changing her bra in one of the ‘windows ‘this adds sex appeal to the trailer which will ultimately attract young people as they are interested in sex. Similarly there is another window of a girl in a bikini, this also adds sex appeal. The fourth window is of a man mowing his lawn; this creates a sense of realism as it is something that people do every day. 
The shots are mostly from Kale's point of view or shots from a third person’s point of view. Such as when there are shots of scenes through the video camera this is from Kale's point of view as he is the one looking at it. At 0.51 seconds there is a shot of blood splattering across the window from Kale's point of view, this creates enigma as the audience would want to see whose blood it is because it could possibly be human blood.

Sound/ Dialogue / Voiceover: The sound in the trailer is not conventional horror type music but instead it is typical teenage style music which makes it obvious that this is a film targeted at a young audience. At 0.52 seconds the scene is of Kale walking the girl to her to her garden and they were about to kiss when the sound of Kale's tag starts beeping, this emphasizes the fact that the girl is attracted to ‘bad boys’. There are lots of music and sound effects to add emphasis on the scenes that are just a typical normal in the beginning. The sounds also changes as the shots get faster and the pace picks up, there are sound effects of bangs and tires screeching. At 1.03 the trailer starts to show conventions of horror films such as scenes of people being attacked and the antagonist looking at Kale in an remorseful way when Kale is getting arrested. The sound effects used are typical horror sound effects that add mystery and suspense to the trailer therefore it will add to the audience wanted to see the film.

Credits/ Intre- titles: 'For the next 90 days... All Kale has is the window... This spring... The quieter the street...  The darker the secrets... The inter-titles are simple Times New Roman style font in the beginning this is because the scenes are just normal typical daily things people do but at 1.34 the inter-titles change to bold black font on a degraded/ slashed yellow background with steam coming out of it, this gives the illusion of looking through blinds which is what Kale does to spy on. They have chosen this style of graphics because it is a big change from the original times new roman font, therefore it establishes that the narrative of the film has changed suddenly to a typical horror type film.   It also gives the audience an idea of narrative because some people may find it hard to follow the narrative by just watching, another point is that one of the inter-titles is 'this spring' which lets the audience know when the film is out because the film is set at the same time the film is released.

Transitions/ Editing/ Special Effects:The transitions shown in the beginning of the trailer are mostly fades; they have used these transitions because it shows a slow episodic build up over time, it gives a sense of back story to the narrative. As the trailer unravels the transactions become fast cuts to show the heightened drama as the story dynamically unfolds.


Mise En Scene: The mise en scene of this trailer starts off as typical everyday mise en scene,  for example the lighting was just average day lighting but as the horror unraveled within the trailer the lighting became more dark and mysterious, this started happening at 44 seconds as the scenes started speeding up. The costumes and make-up within the trailer is  typical teenage costume and make up but the girls are conveyed as 'sexy' teenagers by wearing bikinis, low cut tops and skirts, etc.  which will appeal mainly to teenage males as they are attracted by sex appeal.  The antagonists costume is dark which is a typical convention in horror films as the villain is always dressed in dark costume because the connotations of this are that they are mysterious and have something to hide. There is a major prop used in this trailer which is a pair of binoculars, these are important and are shown in many shots because they are the reason Kale is able to spy on his neighbours and ultimately found out there is a serial killer on his road. The setting of the trailer is mainly in Kale's house and garden because the narrative shows that he is under house arrest, therefore the setting establishes this fact. The setting then gets dark and mysterious as the horror starts so the house starts looking dark and therefore is more scary.