Research and planning.

Research and planning involve looking at other horror films and their trailers and getting inspiration and ideas from them and seeing what appeals, what has done well and what hasn’t done well. Planning would involved writing what you are going to do so you’re organised and your trailer would actually work and make sense. You could also do a few practise ones to see what works/what you like etc and get feedback on them.

Conventions of a horror trailer.

Typically in horror films they are set in deserted places, for example an island, forests, old houses/buildings etc because then the main protagonist who is the target are alone and are not easily helped, which altogether makes the film more tense and scary.

Conventions of a horror trailer.

Also, a convention of a horror trailer is that there is complete silence, and one reoccurring noise which is unsettling and unpleasant to listen to, which makes the watcher more nervous.

Conventions of a horror trailer.

Text always comes up during a horror film trailer, with a sound effect in the background to make it more unsettling and for it to have more of a impact. The text is always in spiky, old fashioned scary font to suit the theme.