Conclusion from my trailer research analysis

• The three trailers I analysed were; the cabin in the woods, Se7en and Wrong Turn.

Common themes

• Storyline – beginning and middle revealed

( state of equilibrium, and disruption of equilibrium,at most the attempt to restore equilibrium isincluded in the trailer but never the end.)

• Typography

• Voice over

• Release date

• Short scenes

• Lots of fade to black cuts

• Loud sharp sound effects

characters

• Psychopath

• Serial killer

• antagonist commonly perceived as evil

• Main character seems normal, social, employed or a student

• Main character assisted by friends often

Settings/ mis-en-scene

• The horror – thrillers tend to be located In a forest or abandoned land, and this is where the problems begin to occur.

• The psychological/ crime-thrillers tend to be set in everyday locations in cities such as homes, the workplace, familiar settings which brings all of the drama closer to home, giving a sense of reality for the audience.

• Darkness

• Confined spaces

Sound

Diegetic

• Voice over

• Vey little dialogue

Non-diegetic

• Airy suspense building music

• Occasional loud bangs or screeching sounds

Iconography

• The colour red

• Blood

• Empty buildings

shots

• Close-ups

• mid-shots

Are most common

Overall

• from analysing the three thriller trailers, the main points/codes and conventions of thriller trailers that I have gathered/identified are:

• Sound (non-diegetic) - The background music tends to regularly be quite airy toadd to the mystery and suspense the trailer is trying to build.

• sound (diegetic) – The type of diegetic sound commonly used are; dialogue fromcharacters, sounds from mis-en-scene such as car horns, trees rustling,

• Cuts – start off slow and smooth and get faster as the trailer goes on, by the end ofthe trailer, the cuts are at least one per second and the last one ends abruptly.

• Shots – lots of close ups, restricting information from viewers and allowing viewersto see the characters’ facial expressions, establishing shots when the setting isimportant.

• storyline – generally follows Todorov’s theory of narrative pattern:State ofEquilibrium, Disruption of the Equilibrium, Recognition there has been adisruption, An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption and finally, A returnof restoration or new equilibrium.

• actors- age, popularity crime thrillers are most likely to have well known actorsand also characters of an older age whereas, horror thrillers have youngercharacters.