A2 Horror Film AnalysisCharlie Landsborough

CostumeCostume in trailers is very useful in showing the audience how the character feels, for example in the trailer for the film ‘prisoners’ the villain’s costume is a hooded coat or jacket this represents him as mysterious and shady. On the other hand in the trailer ‘shutter island’ the costume is a knitted jacket this represents the character as old and perhaps frail. The trailer also suggest her as crazy and violent through the use of handcuffs and her patchy hair. Firstly, the handcuffs represent the women as violent as handcuffs are used to restrain violent people or criminals and the patchy her shows she’s been pulling it out which therefore shows her as crazy and shows why she’s at shutter island. Furthermore, the colours suggest moods of the character, for example the villain is wearing black in the film trailer ‘Prisoners’ because it correlates with death and fear of the un-known which extends upon the idea of the villain being mysterious

Lighting In all the trailers the villain is shown in low lighting to distort his facial features slightly to create mystery and to have him look more evil, this is effective because it helps indicate who the villain is in the trailer. For example, in ‘the resident’ the lighting hits on half his face this hides his identity and creates the idea he doesn’t want to be seen adding suggesting he’s doing something he doesn’t want people to know further suggest he’s doing something bad and adds mystery to the character. Typically the lighting is coming upwards, this makes the most drastic changes to the villain face and makes them look the most evil and scary.

PropsTypically weapons are a common prop used in trailers as it suggest violence and death which is a common theme amongst horror films and it suggest to the audience there will be lots of violence in the film. The way the character handles the weapon in a scene can also be a way of showing how the character feels. For example, in the ‘Shutter Island’ trailer Leonardo Di Caprio is shown tightly holding the pistol, therefore suggesting he’s panicking and is tense which shows to the audience he’s in danger and leaves the audience intrigued. The reveal of a weapon in a trailer can also suggest a turning point in the trailer from peaceful to violent as weapons signify death, so therefore the use of weapons at certain points in a film trailer can be very effective in showing visual transitions throughout a film from peaceful to violent and gives the audience a basic over view of the plotline.

Facial ExpressionsIn horror film trailers lot’s of the time the victims are seen in despair or shock at an event that’s happened in the trailer. For example in all three of the these screenshots we get to see the characters emotions this is effective because often a scene does not have any impact on the audience for example in the trailer for ‘The Resident’ there is a scene which involve’s the villain breaking through a mirror, if this scene only showed a shot of the villain breaking through the mirror it would not be scary and therefore you would have no emotional attachment and would simply just be the viewer, although when we get to see how the character feels and how scared they are, the fear becomes contagious and you become fearing for their safety therefore making you want to root for the character and this makes you become more involved in the scene and the trailer which therefore makes you intrigued to see the full film.

Setting Normally in the trailers there is an establishing shot that sets the scene and this is good for the viewer as it allows them to get a good idea of what's going on and where the film will be taking place. Often the shot is taking in daylight to suggest it as safe and shot at night to create and effect that suggests it as evil.