What have I found out using my research in to horror trailers.

Using my research into 3 different horror trailers I have discovered that there are certain common codes and conventions of a horror trailer that most trailer adopt. However each trailer is different.

Key similarities between the Horror Movie trailers

• All of the teaser trailers attempt to provoke a response of emotional and psychological fear in a viewer. A horror movie needs to deliver horror this is especially seen in the haunting in Connecticut trailer when we see the mysterious characters appear. .
• The majority of the trailers Include ordinary people that haven’t had to deal with danger before. They generally lead normal lives. This makes it easier for the audience to connect with the on screen characters. This is the case in the strangers trailer where at the beginning its states the people are just normal people.
• All of the trailers include iconic items like knives , blood and other items that are commonly associated with horror movies. For example in 'The strangers' Teaser trailer we see snip shots of bloody knives , guns , smashed glass and masked characters. This makes it quit clear for the audience to identify the film as being in the horror trailer.
• Most of the scenes have low key lighting to represent the action taking place in a dark mysterious place , I have also noticed that the low key lighted scenes are generally between the rising and falling action in Freytag's pyramid
• Generally all of the trailers include a wide establishing shot to set the scene of the film and trailer. This is apparent in the 'haunting in Connecticut trailer' as the first show is a birds eye view shot of a small town.
• Other common camera shots and angles include close ups to show a characters fear and mid shots which sets the scene but still leaves the audience wanting more.

Key differences between the Horror Movie trailers

• One main difference between the movie trailers I Explored is that they all follow a very different structure for example 'the strangers trailer starts with a collaboration of different photos and follows Fraytags theories strictly whereas the ' Paranormal activity' trailer doesn't seem to have a direct structure to it at all.
• 'The strangers ' film trailer Starts with a collaboration of different photos and follows Freytags pyramid strictly , whereas 'paranormal activity does not'
• Of course camera angles and shots are different in every film trailer but once again 'Paranormal activity' breaks all common ground. Because the film and trailer is from a CCTV perspective most shots are high wide angles shots.