A Night In The WoodsTrailer Analysis

A night in the woods is a horror movie produced by Vertigo Films. The trailer shows three young people (early 20), Brody, his girlfriend Kerry and her friend Leo, who go to the English countryside for a camping trip. They camp in Dartmoor's Wistman's Woods, which has an infamous past related to Witches. But after the first few hours there is tension and trust issues because of everyone's past. It all comes to a head when paranormal things start to happen around them. There is something going on in the woods, and their night turns from adventure to terror, It is all caught on video tape and shown in a documented format similar to the ‘’Blair Witch Project’’

The Night in The Woods trailer shows the tell tale signs of a horror movie by incorporating the key codes and conventions for a horror into their trailer, these are shown through out the trailer allowing the audience to identify the genre easily. These conventions are very important in a production trailer as they allow the audience to identify the genre quickly and easily as well as understanding the narrative for the film all in a short space of time.

A night in the woods Codes and conventions

Same age as the characters Primary target audience – male/ female 15-30

Certificate 15 15 or 18 Certification

Three main characters (relationship between two)

Three act narrative structure

Set on the Dartmoor mores/ woods

Isolated location

Characters are killed Murders

Female victim (Kerry) Female victim

Paranormal/ haunting sounds

Distorted diegetic sound

Characters scream Screams

The ‘’huntsman’’ Paranormal being/ force present

All three aged young 20s Young/teenage characters

All of the film is filmed on a hand held cameras

Use of hand-held camera gives the audience the identification of realism

A lot of point of view shots are use (handheld camera)

Point of view shots

You see blood on one of the characters face

Uses of Gratifications

Typical vulnerable female victim

Camping in an isolated location, group of young adults

The ‘’Night In The Woods’’ trailer runs for 2 minuets and 18 seconds which is similar to a lot off horror trailers which run between the 2 – 2.25 mark. Although some of the better rated trailers such as the Blair Witch project and Paranormal Activity 4 run for less than two minuets giving less information about the narrative but creating more fear and a larger code of enigma by condensing quick short clips of the film into a small space of time. There are a total of 79 different shots used in the trailer which are all filmed from a hand held camera. The producers use different transitions through out the trailer to edit the shots together. Fade to black is used a lot to as wells as the camera distortion/ cutting out.

The Night In The Woods trailer shows three young adults aged in their early 20s Brody, Kerry (his girlfriend) and her cousin Leo, who go to the English countryside for a camping trip on the Dartmoor mores we are introduced to them at the start of the trailer where it is made clear that Brody and Kerry are in a relationship as we see them kiss. They pick up Kerry's cousin Leo and set of on their trip. From the start it seems that all three characters have a positive relationship and get on fine until Brody notices that Kerry is acting strangely to the point the her and Leo become very close. These type characters are stereotypical for a horror movie as there is often seen a young group with a relationship between two of the members and at least one female who is targeted as a victim. The character group is very similar to the Blair Witch Project where three student film makers disappear in a forest while investigating a paranormal legend the Blair Witch.

Blair Witch A Night In The Woods

Very similar characters/ cast

Both diegetic and non diegetic sounds are used throughout the trailer to inform and connect to the viewer. It is very important to use both diegetic and non diegetic sounds in a trailer as it allows the audience to connect, experience and understand the narrative in more detail. But it is important to get the right balance of diegetic and non-diegetic otherwise the trailer losses its quality for example if there is one continues background song through the whole trailer. In the trailer ‘’A Night In The woods’’ all the expected horror sounds are used such as screams, shouts, crying, distraught and disturbing noises etc. are heard. These are all diegetic sounds which are very important as they represent and emphasise the horror of the film. I thought that the film trailer used the special sound and camera effect of the camera static very cleverly as it brakes the trailer up creating a stop start effect so that the viewer can not focus on the paranormal force etc. it also gives the idea that there is something messing with the camera causing it to happen. At the start of trailer there is a non-diegetic upbeat acoustic folk song to set the idea up of a group adventure . At 40 seconds the song changes to a darker acoustic song which sets the expectations for the horror which is to follow creating suspense for the audience.

From the trailer the audience learns that three young adults Brody, Leo and Kerry are traveling to the Dartmoor mores for a camping trip, but as there trip goes on tensions arise between all three and Leo and Kerry become very close to the point where they sleep together . The trio visit a local pub where they are waned about the woods but still they continue and set up camp in Whitman's woods where they are hunted by the so called ‘’huntsman’’. From the trailer the audience can gather a lot of information about the narrative of the story which compares very similar to the Blair Witch Project. The trailer creates a code of enigma because the audience do not find out what happens to the three main characters for example we are left with questions such as ‘’do they survive?’’ and ‘’what is hunting them?’’

Through out the trailer the audience are informed about the back story and other extra information through intertitles. These intertitles all use the same theme and font - white writing black background to create a constant professional look throughout the trailer. Some of the titles have special effects edited over them similar to the static on the camera keeping the idea that there is a paranormal force at work.

The same theme and style is used through out the trailer

From the start to the finish the trailer builds the expectations and the idea that the film is a classic horror/ ghost story where a group of young adults enter the woods and are killed by some sort of paranormal creature. Even though we do not see any one be murdered in the trailer it sets up our expectations that they will all die at some point in the film. Any one who has seen The Blair Witch Project will see a definite rebalance between the two films/trailers.

Very similar shots of the female character being chased both used in the Blair witch and night in the woods trailers

The whole film is filmed on a hand held camera giving the viewer a sense of realism. A variety of shots are used throughout the trailer although all of them are viewed as a point of view shot as it is filmed through a hand held camera. This is not the first film to be filmed through a hand held camera, many other successful films have such as Cloverfeild, Grave Encounters and The Blair Witch Project.

These are some of examples of the kind of shots used in the trailer all of them are point of view shots from the person with the camera

Vertigo Films has used a film trailer to promote its feature film ‘’A Night In The Woods’’ because it is the most effective way of engaging the target audiences and getting them from their couches and into the cinema. Although they also use other marketing strategies such as posters and articles in the magazine. I personally think that this trailer targets the audience well as the audience can relate to the characters and their back stories, although the film is very similar to the Blair Witch Project which was extremely successful and would be hard to top meaning some of the target audience wouldn’t go because they would feel like they may have already seen the film.

A well made film trailer now a days is an extremely successful promotional device as this is what makes the majority of public want go to the cinema. If the audience can engage with the trailer and it makes an emotionally link they are much more likely to go for example if a comedy trailer makes you laugh it will make you want to go and see the movie.