HORROR trailer analysis- Nightmare on elm street #2

The trailer begins with a long shot depicting a Diner illuminated by neon lights. The usage of the titling 'Diner' highlighted in contrast with the dark background already hints to audiences an american setting as British food places are more frequently referred to as restaurants, cafes or bistros. The idea of an american setting suggests already this film is a large budget american box office hit as American films make twice as much money in the box office as British films do as far as statistics show and do not need funding from the BBFC as many British independent films do, but rather spend millions from prior film profits. Pathetic fallacy comes into play with the thundery diegetic sound and rain in the opening to the trailer creating a tone and mood for the trailer making it seem solemn and frightening. cleverly the lights from the diner mirror into the puddles on the ground already creating a form of parallel and reflection...not quite reality which links to the films plot. The flashing broken lights with an almost jumpy electrical fault sound makes this setting appear derelict and not particularly used or valued...this gives away a setting in the trailer of a derelict place which is conventional of horrors and a trait we too want to obtain in our own movie trailers of using derelict obscure locations.The editing used to make the shot of the diner flash on screen instead of using another editing technique such as a fade or wipe makes it stand out and seem to immediately go into the action. The flash also replicates the lighting from the storm which makes the start of the trailer effectively seem realistic.

The clock that is filmed in the trailer with a low angle shot makes it seem important and domineering, for this reason audiences are drawn to examine the clock as it is made to look important by the angle it is filmed at. although the shot lasts just seconds, it shows the hands of the clock actually moving backwards rather than forwards which gives yet another sense of obscurity and almost illusion
to the trailer. conventionally, many horror trailers from the likes of woman in black to Annabelle film props linking to mise en scene and obscure stationary images to create jump scares when objects suddenly move and create a tone of eeriness. this technique is something we would like to adopt in our own trailer creation as it leaves audiences with enigmas and dosen't give away too much about the plot which is vital in the horror genre if there are twists and jump scares.

The deep focus close up of the male characters face directly after the camera shot of the clock relationally links the character with the obscure backwards clock suggesting that most likely this character will be involved in some of the daunting and obscure goings on in the film. The non diegetic sound of the ticking clock in the background almost suggests a time limit, or that this character is in danger or running out of time. The first male character filming being keelan lutz is also a unique selling point for the film as he is a prestigious and recognizable actor and his presence in a horror movie is interesting as typically he is the teenage heart throb of romance and rom coms so already a direct appeal to a new band of audience members is targeted to get more people interested in this particular horror movie than the typical teenage male audience that horror movies are mainly appealed to. According to the pearl and dean website- 60%+ of horror movie audiences are male, however here the statistics may change as the aesthetically appealing character will draw female interest also. This is also evident throughout the rest of the trailer when a subordinate plot hinting a love interest between lutz and a female love interest is hinted suggestive the movie isn't just a cliché gore and frightening American horror.

The flashing lights that illuminate Lutzs' face in the extreme close up are subtle and no artificial lighting is used so the whole scene seems very real and relatable and the movie magic of the trailer isn't ruined. this too is a technique we would want to adopt for our own horror trailer by using natural lighting and real neon lights or torches and street lights to illuminate characters and scenes rather than our own artificial lighting. The non diegetic sound of the The everly brothers- all I have to do is dream is an effective choice of soundtrack to use in the background of this scene as it creates a eerie feel due to this 1960s archaic track juxtaposing with the contemporary modern setting making it feel very uneasy. The rising volume of the tune puts audiences in anticipation of whats going to happen next building tension.

The jump cuts used to show different parts of the restaurant that Lutz is walking through effectively dosen't bore audiences unlike following lutz round the entire radius of the restaurant. The scene remains relatively silent with just diegetic sounds from a fire burning in the kitchen, which effectively sets up an imperative jump scare of the trailer when Freddy kreueger jumps out from behind a wall frightening audiences which creates not just a cinematic experience from watching the trailer but also promotes a physical experience suggestive that from watching this film you will physically jump and be scared and the film will have an impact on you as an audience member, making the film even more desirable to see as it feels more real and statistics show that most horror movie cinema audiences go for the experience of jumping at horror movies in the cinema with their friends rather than the actual plot quality and film itself.

The interlinking of sound and camera footage is cleverly used when after the all I have to do is dream melody is played, shortly afterwards lutz wakes up from a dream. This cleverly plays o n the parallel between dream and reality because the film itself is called nightmare on elm street and it is hinted that the plot revolves around nightmares becoming reality...confirmed by Lutz having a cut hand after Freddy Krueger sliced him in his nightmare. The realization of Lutzs' cut hand is filmed with an eyeline match shot so we see what our assumed protagonist is seeing...effectively this makes us as an audience relate to our protagonist as we feel the shock that he too is feeling. The loud drum snare at this point makes this particular shot seem even more important and imperative.
The logo for new line cinema which is a Time Warner owned company in America confirms even further the American huge budget film that this is which will act as a unique selling point for audiences, and even the hue of this logo has been edited to appear more monochromatic and eerie fitting more with the solemn dark tone of the trailer.

The one second shots of different characters in the film almost create a montage, linking these characters together with their one shared similarity given away by the narrative- they are all having very realistic similar nightmares with the same nightmare man. The narrative is coming from a man vlogging his experience so it makes the whole story seem more realistic than perhaps a narrative recorded over the top of the piece. This is yet another technique I feel we could interpret in our own horror movie because lately box office hits such as unfriended, cyberbully and friend request use a entirely new idea of internet horror where obscure frighting going ons happen over media such as Skype, Facebook and vlogging which we could easily do with our computers at home and at school to create some realistic and eerie scenes that would fit with modern contemporary horror and draw in audiences.

The next scene is an extreme close up of a girls foot walking In settling snow....this would be a scene you'd expect to see in a drama or romance as snow connotes purity and innocence with its white hue, however a shot from another angle viewing the scene from a long shot shows obscurely this snow is in the girls bedroom, and making it even more frightening and fitting with the genre is the soundtrack behind the footage of short piano keys being played in a flat pitch. This childish like music makes the scene eerie and uneasy.

one of the most effective shots is the tracking shots of Freddy kruegers hand depicting his long sharp blades for fingers. This is effective in giving away hints about the horror characters appearance without revealing his full face as this is one of the films enigmas. This similar technique of only revealing certain characteristics of horror characters is used in trailers such as the babadook trailer where the antagonistic creatures shadow is revealed but not his entire figure as well as saw where jigsaws tricycle is revealed but not the puppet himself.

the  next scene of a college class effectively links in with expected young teenage audiences for the film and makes it seem more realistic, especially because unconventionally some of the horror happenings occur during the day in this movie rather than always the night, making this particular movie stand out. Playing on things that scare or make mass audiences feel uneasy like fingers running down a blackboard in this trailer for example is effective in heightening audience interest and fear.
Micheal Bay whos name is highlighted in a bold red font around 3/4 of the way through the trailer is yet another unique selling point for the film because he is renown for being a famous hugely successful film director especially in the horror department directing films such as Texas chainsaw massacre, the hitcher and Amytiville horror. This makes audiences want to see the film even more knowing that its directed by a prestigious horror director. the blood stained font and color scheme used for Micheal bays name and other credits fits in with the scheme of the trailer bringing real life directors and film makers from reality into the imagined world of the film making it seem more realistic and scary,

revealing lots of different scenes from the movie and putting it together as a montage style creation is conventional of nearly all trailers to lure in audiences by giving away lots of open ended questions, enigmas and giving plot hints using all different types of locations and scenes to show how much depth the movie has...especially using different times of the day with night and day.
The usage of the three young girls in the trailer skipping and singing is conventional of horrors using childish eerie themes to convey a sense of historical context to the film, however the knife marks on each of the girls dresses gives this film individuality and links both adults in the audience and eerie children in the film with freddy krueger the main antagonist,

The usage of complete absence of sound when the date of the films release comes on is effective in making it stand out without even any use of ambiance because it completely contrasts with the loud high pitched diegetic and non dietetic sound of screams and loud noises in the rest of the trailer. The blood stained font is a similar font choice we would think to adopt in our own movie as it looks authentic and not typical like a times new roman font and it fits in with the theme with title fonts for films like this, the village and cabin in the woods being very similar. after research i have depicted that the font name is 'chilling cobbles'.

The usage of a directive subject personal pronoun directly addressing audiences, 'your' makes an impact to the trailer because it makes the trailer seem personal and directed making them feel obliged to see the film even more. also stylistically after this usage of a personal pronoun we see Freddy krueger turn round and directly look at the camera from an eye line match mid shot reinforcing audiences feeling directed.

When the trailer reaches an end and the sound motif of the 'one two Freddy gonna get you' plays as well as a non diegetic chilling mans laugh it leaves the trailer on a frightening almost enigma triggering note making audiences want to see more. also the way that a short clip from the movie excluded from the montage in the rest of the trailer is used it leaves audiences on even more of a cliffhanger and gives away information about the scene but not in its entirety.