Horror

Poltergeist: 

The opening of this horror trailer begins with a long shot of the dark and gloomy sky above shadowed trees and houses. This is effective as the dark colours of red and black connote death and evil, which is what this horror movie is based on. By this the audience are already feeling quite creeped out which is a success. As it fades slowly into black to add more of a dramatic and ominous appearance the slow and calming music of a constant note on a piano is. This is effective because in this case the slow and calming music is quite stressful and creates suspension as everything is much more eerie because we know that this horror trailer isn’t going to be calming. Especially using a piano will enhance the eeriness.

We are shown a close up of a little girl wearing pink striped pyjamas and holding a doll, she is talking to the closet. Using young girls in horror movies is efficacious as it makes it much creepier due to the contrast of her being so innocent but found in dark and uninviting environments. Due to her being a young sweet girl the audience would be attracted more as her survival is more important than any other survivor. E.g. the brothers and the parents. This is because the audience would want the girl to be more protected therefore using a young girl plays a successful role in horror movies.

Suddenly, we juxtapose from the calm and slow music to low key lighting of the girl young being taken by a force of wind. We get a medium shot of her mother grabbing onto the girls hand while the girl looks at her in fear. However, we are not shown the mother in this shot as the trailer wants the audience to focus on the young girl and to make sure she is protected. This is due to her being much more vulnerable. We get a medium shot of the girl and boy playing with the closet, the girls giggle echoes the room and in horror movies this can be haunting. The medium shot is effective as we are shown teddies, an old table which looks like it is used for tea parties and pink accessories such as a lamp. This all adds to the vulnerability of the child and shows her innocence. The laughter stops and silence occurs, we get a long shot of the house and the sky is dark again, the suspense already begins. We cut from a shot in the girls bedroom and we know this by the items we were shown earlier in the medium shots. Instantaneously, the keyboard starts the play and the lights flash on it. We cut to a medium shot of the young girl sitting in the corner of her room surrounded in teddies looking frightened. The audience begin to worry for her and feel terrified themselves at this point to see what happens next. We hear the diegetic sound of the closet doors squeaking open and we see all black. Cutting to a medium shot of the girl walking towards the closet and she is holding a teddy, again to represent her as assessable as she is using it for her own protection. The non-diegetic sound becomes more paced, she drops her teddy inferring she has nobody to protect her anymore. The curtains shut, going into all blackness. Then suddenly these creatures pop out screaming. We cut into fast paced editing as the parents hurry to find their daughter to find out she’s been taken.

The eerie atmosphere increases as we continue to fade in and out of black while we get a story about the haunted house. The low key lighting helps to create the ominous effect and make the audience feel exactly how the characters feel. Near the end of the story we get a close up shot of the girls hand placed on a bright surface and as she turns her head we see a shadowed hand on the other side, making a bang.

The young boy picks up the torch; we are shown props such as toy clowns, this is effective as we know this is many peoples fear and they are terrifying, following the codes and conventions of a horror. We hear the sound of the slow and cheery toy and we are shown a close up of the boy’s face looking frightened as he turns the torch off the clown and onto the toy on the floor making the sound, creating tension. We get a close up again of the boy and can see the dark clown in the background. We hear the diegetic sound of it laughing as the boy slowly turns round to see if it is there. As the light shines on the clown it jumps onto the boy. At this point the audience’s adrenaline would be going. It fades into black. Fast paced editing shots are added of the traumatic events that the poltergeists are doing and hear the diegetic sounds of screams. This is effective as it shows their fear.

We then have one slow shot, all silent, where the little girl is sitting in the corner of the room facing the wall. The dad slowly approaches and reaches his arm on her shoulder, the audience would be feeling the tension right now as they await for something fearful to happen. She turns around and we see a white face, she leaps on the dad and the dad screams. It then cuts to the title, this is a black background with white writing and it has a slit of light shining through the middle making it more haunting with the sound of a children’s toys playing in the background.