Assignment 2: Summary Of Research Of Trailers

By Noor Naoum

Supernatural Thriller Trailers

Narrative Structure• Narrative structure within the trailer usually consists of the equilibrium and

disequilibrium.

• Sometimes within a supernatural thriller the audience don’t tend to find a new equilibrium In the end because there may be no solution to the ending.

• The new equilibrium is not usually portrayed because this creates the enigmas and drawing the audience into wanting to watch the film.

Equilibrium: They are a happy family united with each other.

Disequilibrium: The audience are unsure of who he is attacking because within the scene an over the shoulder shot is slightly visible. This allows us to question who he is attacking.

Sweeney Todd

Equilibrium: They’re living an ordinary lifestyle showing us that they have no issues

Disequilibrium: we don’t know as an audience who is causing this so the main enigma is to find out who is the person/thing behind these issues.

Dark Skies

Trailer Timing

• Trailers generally tend to last 2 minutes and a half long and the maximum amount would be 3 minutes.

2:24 2:31

Audio• The non diegetic score music within a supernatural trailer usually tend to have a high

pitch of instruments playing and the volume control could also support this because this would build on the tension and build up a bigger amount of enigma which allows the audience to interact more.

• The non diegetic score music starts at a low tone and eventually starts to build up consisting of pace and volume control.

Titles• Within supernatural thrillers you tend to find a lot of titles in between scene. For

example ‘Paranormal Activity.

These type of titles come either as a warning or a threat to the audience. This creates more enigma and allows the audience to engage their minds and question what is it that’s closer than what we think

Social Media• Usually social media is portrayed at the end of the trailer.

The purpose of it is to allow audiences to interact with each other and share it so it can reach a wider audience (mass audience)

• For example, The hunger games information was all published on Facebook meaning that people can like, share and comment on this page and give their individual based on the trailer. This is also shown at the end of the trailer for the to remember to visit the page.

Editing

In the paranormal activity trailer the editing is very effective because of the unique transitions used. Its almost as if she is being watched on camera but she could also be being watched by the villain. The transition is also In line with the trailer and is in parallel to the pace. This creates more of a supernatural effect to the trailer and increases the intensity within each scene.

Inspiration• My inspiration came from the use of different shots, for instance how match on action

could effect the audience and how the music flows with the match on action. For example the music being in line with the action almost builds the tension and engages the audience.

• I liked the editing techniques used such as the different transitions because they seem very subtle and the audience doesn’t realise that, that transition subtly switched the scene.

• A variety of shots helped the scenes flow more quickly and built the tension, allowing the audience to question more and feel more drawn in wanting to watch the film.