When looking into existing media texts my group and I decided to look into psychological horror as that is our sub-genre of choice. Psychological horror trailers vary due to their diverse narratives so I decided to analyse two trailers which have many similarities and difference so I could understand and get to know the vital codes and conventions that are used within psychological horror trailers. I have chosen to look at ‘Orphan’ and ‘Hide and Seek’ as they are both psychological horrors which include children.

Both trailers conventionally start with film logos such as ‘Dark Castle’ and ‘20th Century Fox’ and use Todorov’s narrative structure, ‘equilibrium’, ‘disruption’, ‘reaction and repair’ and ‘new equilibrium’. However, conventionally, in order to entice the audience and grab their attention the ‘repair’ and ‘new equilibrium’ obviously do not feature in the trailers or otherwise the whole narrative would be revealed. In the opening of both trailers, an establishing shot and an over head shot is featured of a family car on a journey, this is to reflect the equilibrium of the films. Both of the equilibriums feature a family starting a new

beginning after a troubled past; after the apparent suicide of mother Allison, psychologist Dr. David Callaway and his daughter Emily, move to a new home to hopefully have a fresh start. In ‘Orphan’ Kate Coleman and her husband John decide to adopt and start a fresh after their third child was stillborn. Both trailers introduce the equilibrium effectively; however, nondiegetic eerie sound suggests that these new beginnings may turn disastrous.

Both of the trailers also feature straps to give a hint to the narrative and introduce the actors that feature in the film. The trailer for ‘Hide and Seek’ lacks in straps that hint at the narrative, this may be because the trailer implies that it is Emily that has psychological problems when in fact it is her father, David, if the trailer used straps then maybe the audience would guess the twist. Moreover, ‘Hide and Seek’ unconventionally shows the actors that feature in the film through straps. Usually horrors do not feature well known actors as this prevents the film from establishing realism, however, ‘Hide and Seek’

is capitalizing on the fact it features ‘A listers’ like Dakota Fanning and Robert De Niro, it is likely that these actors have many fans and if they know their idols are in this film it will encourage them to go and see the film even more. At the very end of the trailer for ‘Hide and Seek’ a strap features that reads ‘if you want to know the secret you have to play the game’ obviously this strap is conventionally ambiguous and it intrigues the audience and forces them to go and watch the film as obviously there is an underlying secret that fuels the film’s narrative. The strap is situated at the end of the trailer as it will linger in the audience’s mind once again encouraging them to watch the film. Similarly, ‘Orphan’ provides the audience with ambiguous straps that hint towards the narrative of the film: ‘There’s something wrong with Esther’ and ‘you’ll never guess her secret’ conventionally, these straps intrigue the audience and entice them to watch the film as they want to find out what is wrong with Esther and what her secret is. Both of these films clearly have a deep, dark secret and involve a plagued individual (Esther and Emily/Charlie) who is ruining the family dynamic and by revealing this in the trailers it will compel the audience to go and watch the films to find out these secrets and what Esther and Charlie/Emily’s reasons and aims are. The straps for these trailers are not only similar in content they also use similar serif fonts; this font makes the appearance of the word more eerie and creepy.

‘Hide and Seek’ and ‘Orphan’ both feature young girls who seem to cause disruption within the family. There are mise-en-scene elements such as costume and makeup that are similar between the two lead female characters in each trailer, they both try to dress older, Esther dresses as if she is an older woman when she tries to seduce the father and to hint that she actually is an old woman. Emily dresses up to try and take the place of her mother, in one scene she wears earrings and makeup. Both of the girls also look incredibly similar, they both have pale skin and dark hair, this is a convention of psychological horrors; the female lead characters are rarely ‘blonde bimbos.’ Other mise-en-scene elements, such as lighting are also similar between the

two trailers, they mainly feature ambient and available lighting; this creates realism and allows the audience to relate to the narrative.

Camera shots and angles are similar in each trailer; they are used to convey the meaning about the narrative. At the start of ‘Orphan’ a birds eye view shot is used to show where the car is driving towards and the setting looks cold and bland, similarly, in ‘Hide and Seek’ there is also a birds eye view shot used where the setting also looks dark, cold, bleak and lifeless, full of trees with no leaves this may be foreshadowing the end result for the families, that the life will be taken from them and they will be cold and miserable. ‘Orphan’ also uses a low angle shot to show Esther’s power over the family. Camera edits are also similar in each trailer, they both use ‘fade to white’ and ‘fade to black’ the fading to white for ‘Orphan’ may indicate the purity and innocence of the family that is being attacked by Esther, the ‘fade to black’ in ‘Hide and Seek’ may be used to signal the dark danger they are going to face in the near future. Medium close ups and close ups are also used throughout each trailer to show the raw emotion of the characters (See images from each trailer left)

Both trailers end conventionally with the use of a montage of quick edits, high pitched non-

diegetic sound and panicked characters, however, ‘Orphan’ uses a sting whereas ‘Hide and Seek’ doesn’t, this may because ‘Hide and Seek was created a while before ‘Orphan’ . The ending of the trailers raises tension for the audience and lures them in to see the whole film.