Conventions of a Psychological Horror Trailer

After concluding that I would make a psychological horror trailer, I analysed 5 competitor films/trailers which fit into that genre. The 5 films I have chosen are The Dead Outside, Open Water, The Ring, The Sixth Sense and Shutter Island.

The Dead Outside

The trailer begins with camera jog with ominous music overlapping the speech. At first, the pace is very slow with little cuts, but as the trailer progresses, the cuts are closer together creating a fast pace. This builds up tensions and creates suspense for the audience. Between cuts, there are many black backgrounds with white writing centred on the page, which briefly describe the outline of the film. However, the pace differs between fast and slow cuts, which generate ongoing suspense, as the audience does not clearly understand what is happening. The shots within the trailer are a combination of long shots, mid-shots and close-ups. The continuous use of different shots produces fear in the audience, as well as the sounds overlapping the shots creating the suspense. The lighting is low key, as the trailer appears to be shot late into the day, creates fear amongst the audience and continues to create suspense. The characters are also wearing dark clothes, and many have dark hair and make up, continuing to suggest the genre of horror. As the pace quickens, there is tension music as well as diegetic sounds such as a wolf howling and screams. The trailer ends with the name of the movie and a slow-paced clip, which ends slowly with music box effect music.

Open Water
The pace at the beginning of the trailer is slow with a long shot of a couple walking along the beach while the man is talking. There is slight ominous music as the shot fades from a shot of the ocean to a black screen with white writing placed in the centre. The writing enlarges and zooms, then fades into different text. The camera jog creates the impression of reality, rather then a film, therefore making the plot seem scarier. The pace between clips of the film and black screens speed us to build suspense, with eventually more clips being shown. The black screens also show quotes such as ‘intensely frightening – New York daily news’ which emphasises the horror.  There is a ripple transition to the next scene, which reflects the ocean. The trailer uses a combination of mid-shots and close-ups, which creates suspense as the audience do not gain a full picture of what is happening. Sound bridges are used, showing the black screens while hearing the panic and screams from the two people stranded in the ocean. The lighting changes to low key after a cut to lightning, to create suspense, resulting in the audience being more on edge. Before the end of the movie the pace of the black screens slow down, beginning with a sound bridge and ending in ominous music and a cut to the name of the film. The trailer ends with a fast clip of a moving shark fin, suggesting this is the danger the two divers are facing, and then a black screen with ‘coming soon’ in white lettering.

The Ring

The trailer opens with a voice over describing what happens when you watch a particular video while a picture of a circle outlined in white cuts to a fuzzy television screen. The music that has been playing stops while there is a cut to an ocean of blood. There is a cut to a woman in a mirror brushing her hair, which is in black and white and another cut to a fizzy screen, whilst the voice over and music starts again. There is a black screen that then fades to two girls talking, which carries on from the voice over. Ominous music starts playing as there is a slow cut of a black screen. This fades to a long shot of a boy holding an umbrella and an unknown figure in a rain mac. This cuts to a close-up of the boy lifting the umbrella so we can see his face. The lighting is low key, it is raining and the boy is pale and has dark eyes, which all suggest the genre of horror. However, his mum has blonde hair is not a typical ‘horror character’. There is a cut with a phone ringing and another shot of a fuzzy television screen. There are sound bridges over various cuts from the film, creating suspense in the audience, as they are unsure of what is happening. The images of the circle are repeated as well as the repetition of the phone ringing. Towards the end of the clip the pace of the cuts speed up and more ominous music is played which creates suspense. As the pace speeds up, there are more close-ups showing the characters fear. The trailer ends with the picture of the circle with ‘the ring’ written inside. This cuts to the mum screaming and another fuzzy screen that cuts to ‘coming soon’ written on a black screen in white letters.

The Sixth Sense
The trailer begins with diegetic sound of sirens and the lighting of a torch and a track forward. This cuts to a high angled shot of a street showing the traffic. This fades to another track forward between the cars and a jump cut, suggesting the amount of traffic. This cuts to a medium close up shot of a mum and her son in the traffic jam. The pace of the cuts are slow and there is slight camera jog. Ominous music starts playing when the boy reveals he can see the woman who died next to him. There is a fade to a black screen showing the company who made the film which cuts to a worm’s eye view of a spiral staircase with a red balloon floating up. There is a camera shutter noise and a flash before the worms eye view shot and after, which cuts to the boy walking up the staircase. There is another camera sound and flash before a cut to a black screen. The lighting is low key which shows the boy’s shadows creating suspense amongst the audience. There is a sound bridge from a long shot of the boy talking to a man while the pace speeds up while other clips are shown. The camera sound and flash is repeated again as there is non-diegetic sound of a heart beating as the pace of the cuts quicken and there is also the sound of thunder, until the pace decreases again. There is also a loud noise and a scream from the boy which builds up suspense. There is a pan from the boy to a dead girl. She is wearing hospital clothes, has dark hair and circles under her eyes, which conveys the appearance of a typical dead character from horror films.  The boy whispers in the trailer, which creates suspense. Again, the pace switches between fast and slow until the end when the title is shown on a black background.

Shutter Island
To begin with, there is ominous music and a long shot of a boat which is in fog. Between clips of the film, there are cuts to black screens with a sound bridge of two men talking. There is fast track forward and then a cut to three men walking in slow motion. There are also jump cuts, close ups and zooms. The pace of the cuts speed up during the trailer and ominous music gets louder. There are also diegetic sounds such as screaming, until the end where there is silence and just a black screen and the words ‘Shutter Island’ centred in white writing. This fades to a black screen then another slow-paced clip of the movie which builds suspense until another man appears and fast music is played. This makes the audience jump, as it was unexpected. Most of the trailer has low-key lighting in order to create fear and suspense amongst the audience.

From analysing these 5 trailers, I have found interesting techniques used to build fear and create suspense. Therefore, I have concluded that my trailer shall include a variety in the pace of editing, cuts and fades to black screens and black screens with writing on, as well as sound bridges, a variety of shots and low-key lighting. I will also use ominous music and diegetic sounds such as screams as I feel these have created suspense effectively in these trailers. By following these conventions of a psychological horror trailer, I feel that I will be able to create a trailer that builds suspense and fear in the audience to a high standard.