Teaser trailers...

This teaser trailer for the upcoming remake of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' doesn't adhere to all of the common conventions which most theatrical trailors do, mainly those for genre. Whilst most horror films show the gore or eerieness from the start, this teaser instead opens with a sequence which, to me, is indicative of an action film as Kruger is shown running from a mob of people through a factory yard at either dawn or dusk. To me, unless you have heard about the original film, much of the signifiers would be lost (for example calling him a "sick bastard" and "Kruger" his red and black jumper, and the skipping rope scene). The genre is clearer after the first minute where the cuts are quicker and the music jumps at the same time (a common technique in horror) along with the use of binary opposition with the little girls used as a symbol of purity and innocence over a backdrop of evil.

The name of the film isn't mentioned until the end but is referenced all the way through, however this is only obvious if you have seen the original (so it isn't trying to capture a new audience as such) and the iconic 'Elm Street' street name isn't shown until near the minute mark. Whilst it does create build up as you want to know the title of the film so you watch the trailor all the way through, if it had mentioned the name of the film and that it was a remake it could have played on the originals fan base as well as capturing a new audience.

The production values of this film aren't overt in my opinion, except for the mention of the director nearing the end, there is no stars mentioned or easily recognised, no reference to budget, or reference to it being a remake. The special effects are shown, for example the fire in the factory in the opening sequence, the girl being lifted up the wall by what appears to be nothing, the stunts and the gore which is exaggerated by the editing of this clip.

In my opinion this trailer does appeal to its target audience. I would assume that the target audience for this film is a newer audience, young 18-35, so by having young actors and teenage characters the audience can relate to them and the use of everyday life with it based in a small community, the home and school means that it is easily identifiable.

The music is an eerie remake of the original song in 'Nightmare on Elm Street' which is "one, two, he's coming for you..." sung by little girls and diegetic music throughout. The music is in keeping with genre as it gets louder and jumpier with a crescendo which is a very common signifier in horror films and trailers; however it is not as overpowering as many other trailers so it doesn't have such a strong effect as most 'jumpy' horror trailers.

There is no voice over or inter-titles which most theatrical trailers have, to reinforce the plot and characters, instead at the end the inter-titles reinforce the 'nightmare' by saying "don't fall asleep". Also, there is minimal dialogue which adds to the suspence of the trailer. The dialogue that there is, is very vague only mentioning that 'Kruger' has done something, a girl is having nightmares, someone telling her to not fall asleep and the occasional scream. By doing this it is only hinting at the premise of the film but showing no resolution, thus teasing the audience.

Whilst there isn't a voice over, the editing techniques break up the trailer similarly way. The quick cuts with emphasis on the music, and fade ups with reaction shots keep the audience guessing as they want to find a resolution. Without a voice over to install the key elements of the film, the audience are left trying to make connections and it out for themselves which involves them.



This remake of the well known horror film 'Friday the 13th' incorporates most of the key conventions for trailers. The opening sequence is of a peaceful isolated lake in the woods, which will be juxtaposed against the plot with birds and diegetic sounds from nature, slowly fades to a sound of wind and a voice over of a woman, which sounds as though it is coming out of a old microphone or voice recorder (which could reinforce the camp ideology as she could be talking through the camp soundsystem). Whilst there is a voice over, in common practice most trailers, especially horror have an authoritative male voice, however going against the norms makes this film stand out, and having a female voice which has usual connotations of warmth, love, kindness has the opposite effect and reinforces the eerieness of the plot. The genre of the film is also shown through the use of quick cuts fade ups and the use of slow and fast camerwork to distinguish between victim and killer. The use of light and dark is also a key signifier and I think works very well in this trailer as most of it is set at night with minimal lighting and the lighting that is used is from torches to make it seem more realistic, and the sparks of light which are used on Jason, connote hiding in the shadows and being a monstrous character isolated. Another technique this trailer uses subtly yet very effectively is the use of binary oppostition. The setting of the film is at a summer camp called "Camp Crystal Lake" (with crystal and lake both connoting purity) and old toys and dolls which we would assume to be Jason's, as his mother takes over about his childhood and how "He wasn't a very good swimmer. The counsellors were'nt paying attention. He should have been watched. Every minute." The voice over gives a sinister tone to the toys which would normally be a symbol of innocence, binary oppositions are a common technique used in horror to show good vs evil.

Another element which is explored in many films is a set date, which creates anticipation. The voice over says "and today, is his birthday" which could be referring to the common idea which is explored in many horrors, 'return of the repressed'. Her mention of his childhood at camp, his toys and then talking about him in past tense could be showing a transformation and showing her understanding of his behaviour; and could be used as a warning to stay away, as he is coming.

The name of the film is only shown at the end, but is referenced once by the female voice over as she says "my son, Jason" which most people would recognise which film it was from that. At the end there is a close up of Jason's famous hockey mask as it rotates and the title "Friday the 13th fades up in white as the 13 changes to red, which gives a clear connotation of blood and death.

The production values are very vague also, there is no reference to actors or budget and special effects are kept to a minimum in the trailer,the director and production company is not mentioned either until briefly at the very end with the release date.

This trailer does attract its target audience of 18-35 by using young teenage characters which the audience can identify with, a clear recognisable and well known killer 'Jason' and has enough suspense and gore to keep them interested.

The music isn't as overt as most horror trailers as most emphasis and attention is put onto the female voice over of the killers mother, however the music is used in crescendo to punctuate her sentences and highlight the on screen action which creates not only suspence but fear. Another type of effective sound is covertly shown through the diegetic sound of the victims panting as they try to escape, and their screams.

The voice over isn't typical to the conventions not only because it is a female voice. The main exception is that the voice over is a possible character in the plot, and she isn't narrating the trailer in the usual way to explain the on-screen action and characters, but instead gives us more information about the killer protagonist which has a strange effect as we see ourselves identifying more with Jason and his mother and see the teenagers as people who are 'disturbing the peace'



I wanted to compare the techniques which different genres use within teasers trailers, this is a teaser trailer for 'Valentines Day' a romantic comedy to be released next year. This teaser has a completely different format, focus and presentation than the horror teasers that I have looked at so far. This trailer, and I believe most romantic comedy trailers, have more focus on the directors previous successes to grasp a previous audience, the actors, and rather than explaining the plot, show snippets of humour and have an upbeat well known song behind it to reinforce the light-heartedness of the film.

The genre is identified from the beginning, with a couple on a plane, and the female commenting on the airhostess's overt attraction to her partner and then the airhostess pops her head in creating the first laugh at just 15 seconds. The name of the film isn't mentioned until the end of the trailer (adhering to the main conventions) however the refence to Valentines Day is throughout with the focus on love, couples and being together or alone on Valentines. However the most overt convention adhered to is the production values. This trailer attracts its audience mainly by actors and director, the intertitles show that the director of this film is the same as that for 'Pretty Woman' an incredibly successful romantic film from the 80's with a huge female fan base, and photos flashing up of all the actors that star in this film: Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempset, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher and Julia Roberts, all of which have their own fan base and are all different ages from 20's- 40's (and overall characters' ages range from 5-70). As a romantic comedy, budget and special effects aren't important to the audience so aren't mentioned, yet the budget must have been huge to cover all of those A list actors.

This trailer definately picks out aspects of the film that will attract an audience as most romantic comedies attract an audience through: actors, directors, soundtrack and sometimes if it is an adaptation of a novel (eg Bridget Jones Diary)play on the fans of the novel. This film uses an upbeat popular song of 'I got a feeling (tonight's gonna be a good night) by The Black Eyed Pea's to set the tone of a lighthearted fun film and the song is in keeping with the genre of 'rom com'. And of course uses the actors to attract a mostly young female, and couples audience just in time for Valentines Day 2010. The up-beat music is also used to change the audience's state and to boost them up, so that after it ends they want that feeling back and look forward to the film being released.

Because there is no voice-over (except at the end to reinforce the title of the film), the music and dialogue are given more attention, the dialogue more than anything as the music gets quiter whilst it is on, which is almost the opposite to how music is used in horror trailers. There are intertitles but not many (except naming the actors) and they are only used to give the catchphrase for the film which is "from the director of Pretty Woman, comes a day in the life.. of LOVE" which again attracts the audience through genre, director and of course, because it will be released on Valentines will be welcomed by couples and single women of all ages. With main concepts of having someone or being alone, and due to the range of ages in characters all females can identify with it, and the different relationships helps this also. The represention of love is so diverse, from an old married couple who have only been with eachother, a young married couple,and a couple dating, to two people the morning after and single women and with an overt theme of the links between sex and love, it is a modern film showing the modern approach to love, and the openness of sexuality with the ending statement of dialogue being a modern business woman revealing "my closest relationship is with my blackberry.. Thank God it vibrates."

The last thing which we see, before the production companies is an inter-title reading "February 2010. Save the date". Without even mentioning Valentines day, the reference to February is enough for us to make the assumption that it will be released then, and by saying "save the date" could be a reference to an invitation, or a special occasion, as when you get married you send 'save the date' cards to make sure that everyone can make the date. This, whilst it references themes of love and marriage, it also makes this appear more personal to the audience, as if they want 'me' to go and see this film. This technique is used a lot in horror as they reference 'you' a lot, "are YOU ready", "you've seen..", "coming for you" etc.

In my opinion I think that this approach to a teaser trailer is the most effective, with the use of music to change your mood, the overt production values with actors I think is extremely appealing and it is memorable, more so than many of the horror teasers which I have seen so far.




After what I noticed about the opening sequence of 'A nightmare on Elm Street' with the action format, I wondered about the similarities that horror teasers have with action and disaster films. This is the teaser trailer for '2012', a dister film about a global cataclysm.

From the opening, the genre is quite clear, the music is typical of adventure, and the use of diegetic music, like footsteps and panting from the male character seen reinforce this also. The production values are also shown very early on with birds eye shots on the mountains of India or China showing a large budget to film in other countries and special effects with the water coming over the top of the mountains having to be CGI, this is useful as it uses the natural settings to emphasise what the intertitles are sayings.

The target audience is not overt, however with it being an action adventure it is probably a largely male audience of 21-39, but as this film is about a global disaster which has been predicted in many religions it could grasp a new audience also for those whose curiosity have been awakened. This film could also play on similar films audiences' like 'Independence Day' and 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Another audience clencher could be the use of CGI with the water going over the mountains as to me it resembled a Tsunami, which of course was a major disaster a few years ago which created worldwide panic over global warming and began seeing the world as a ticking bomb.

The vagueness of the shots is also very interesting as it is a technique used in horror trailers also as they don't want to give too much away, yet the action gives nothing away, instead it is the inter-titles which explain the narrative which is unlike any trailer I have seen so far.

The music isn't as dramatic, or overstated as it is in horror trailers, however the ticking (denoting a countdown) the diegetic 'dongs' from the monks warning and the strange distorted country music which has been slowed down and played over the top. However in my opinion the music makes the on screen action appear unimportant and fake. Yet the other music, of violins and drums is very effective, it builds up tension, and is in keeping with the shots cutting faster also.

Whilst there is no dialogue, the inter-titles are the only reason the audience understands what is going on, its short questions, and broken sentences are used as markers and break up the action so that you have to keep watching to find the answer or the end of the sentence. This is a common element in different genres of teasers. The inter-titles read "How would the governments of our planets prepare six billion people for the end of the world? They wouldn't" By referencing the government when whilst we are in the economic crisis, it reminds us of our lack of trust in them, and with the mention of the end of the world, it will already intrigue a huge audience as the date 2012 has been mentioned in many religions and has been predicted will be the end of the world for quite some time. This works on not just a national level, but a worldwide scale as it is a universal theme with cross-cultural concepts and diverse among religions. Religion is highlighted by the use of Indian monks on an isolated mountain, and with monks being connected with being peaceful, in touch with nature, very religious good people, and it shows them being first in the disaster, which signifies that no one is safe.

This trailer does adhere to most of the conventions that trailers have; the movie title isn't mentioned until the end, it uses inter-titles to make sense of the on-screen action, the use of music which is in-keeping with the genre, and a clearly indicated plot and genre which attracts an audience, however there is no voice-over which most trailers include.

Another feature which this film incorporates is the website. The last thing you see on screen is "find out the truth. Google search 2012". By having its own website it can advertise its own film and show the trailers free, as well as extra information. The website shows government plots and games and other information about the concepts of the film to attract and reel in its audience. This new technique is rarely used, however I think that it is very clever and should be used more.






The genre of the film is shown from the very start with a quick CU of a woman and the use of diegetic heavy breathing and what sounds like latin hymns quietly over the top. The use of fade-ups and downs are a common element within horror trailers and is used to dramatise and add tension. The usual audience of 18-34 is attracted through the use of darkness, unknown and the strange 'masked monks' which are shown early on, showing the dark side of religion. I would say that this trailer mainly appeals to males with the use of an attractive female (I assume is the witch referenced in the title), skeletons, CGI, fire, gore, and the overall ideology of the 'unexplained'. As well as the use of CGI and prosthetics, production values are also referenced with Nicholas Cage being in the film, which would attract his personal fanbase.

The on-screen visuals are very unsettling showing a dead demonised monk, skeletons (possible reference to the grim reaper) and other deformed things. There is a clear theme of religion threaded through with the monks, witches, burning cross, altar and scriptures which appeals to an already set audience from films like 'The Da Vinci Code' and the use of separating the 'living' from the 'dead' by using black and white for the dead and scary stills.

There is music, the use of drums and computer edited music is in sync with the action, quick cuts and the editing on screen with crescendos, and there is dialogue from the film to explain the plot, but as usual, never gives too much away, and the non-diegetic knife slashes which signify killing, pain, torture and is also referencing the time this is set in, which would be the 1600/1700's when they used to burn witches at the stake.

The inter-titles don't explain the plot, instead they direct the audience by saying "Halloween is for amateurs", which is a direct reference to the horror genre as it is the holiday which main aim is to scare people and "see you next spring" is telling the audience when it will come out in the cinema, which is reinforced at the very end where you find out the title of the film 'Season of the Witch' and 'Spring 2010". Also a feature at the very end, which I found in the '2012' trailer was showing the website which corresponds with the film 'seasonofthewitchfilm.com'; this may be to attract a younger audience who surfs the internet.