1. 1. How does the Halloween Trailer adhere to the codes andconventions of the slasher sub-genre?The Halloween trailer follows the conventions of a slasher horror through the use oftypical characters you would expect to see within the slasher genre. Slasher horrorstend to have a promiscuous woman who becomes the victim of the murderer. Themurderer is usually someone with psychological issues, who becomes a serial killer;which is present within this trailer.The killer starts of as a child which gives the insight that something is wrong with hisbrain as normal children would not think about killing others. This is apsychological state within males because within the slasher genre it is typical for thekiller to have something within their childhood which has psychologically affectedthem, causing them to act out in multiple murders. Another typical character of theslasher genre is the heroic type who goes around trying to save the victims of thepsychopath. In this trailer, the hero is the police officer who warned people of thedangers of this child psychopath which he could see evil within his eyes. Within theslasher genre it is normally someone with authority who discovers the murderer,which is present within this trailer.The typical weapon within a slasher is a bladed object; the weapon within this traileris conventional as the weapon is a knife, because weapons like this are what gave theslasher genre its name, because of its effect it has when used, for example it creates alot of blood. It is also usual for the killer to be masked or hidden and the Halloweentrailer follows this because only as a child are we introduced to the true identity ofthe murderer, then referred back to by his therapist as the serial murderer. Thismeans that the characters are unaware of who the murder is and so is the audience.It is needed that the identity of the killer is not made aware within the trailer of themovie because people would be less likely to want to watch the film if they know whois behind the murders. The use of the I-camera follows this convention because theidentity of the murderer is concealed, however we are able to witness what themurderer is seeing and doing.The reoccurring use of the pumpkin ties the trailer into the title of the movie, whichalso leads into the supernatural. This links into Halloween is the celebration of thesupernatural. Throughout the trailer there is many elements death and religionthrough the uses of tombstones and the Christian cross. The cross is seen assomething which is sacrifice within the Christian religion, so the audience is able torelate this to the horror and how people, that have not done in retrospective anythingwrong, are sacrificed by the murderer for their own personal pleasure.The setting of the trailer is quite dark and gloomy, which follows the codes andconventions of slasher horrors because it creates fear and tension. Due to theunknowing of the upcoming events, the characters are unaware of the killer andevents so the audience is able to relate to the fear, so darkness is effective. The typicallocation of a slasher horror is within a built up residential location, however in
2. 2. Halloween, it is a small town. This is because there is a small amount of people themurderer is able to victimise, however they are able to get away with the killingsbecause of the small area.The trailer of Halloween does follow the codes and conventions of a slasher sub-genrehorror through the typical characters, location/setting and the props used, theaudience is able to compare and know what to expect because of the genre andtrailer.