CONVENTIONS OF HORROR TRAILERS/ POSTERS/ FILM

MAGAZINESAFRA MALIK

TRAILERS- OPENING TITLES• A film trailer is made to publicise the film before it is published in cinemas, it is a

type of promoting mechanism which elevates the film to the audience, if the trailer is effective, the target audience will come to watch the film when it has been released.

• The trailer does not reveal the whole story of the film, but only shows several plots. The effect this has on the audience is that they are curious and encouraged wanting to find more about what happens in the actual film.

• Every film starts with a disclaimer which shows which audience is suitable to watch the film. Additionally, the titles of the producers and distributors of the film are also shown in the opening trailer. A great example of this is in the trailer Annabelle. This information is included so that the studio gets credit for what they have done.

TRAILERS- SOUND

MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS• General conventions of a horror magazine are very easy to spot. The main image of the

new movie appears in the middle and usually takes up a majority of the page. The featured articles appear on the left third of the article. The main image is always conventional as the actor whose modelling, is always in character, this promotes the film and attracts audience, especially when they see the actor in the role as it gives them a taster of what the movie will include. For example, if it features a zombie, the audience will know the film will include a lot of gore and blood, if it’s of a man with a mask around his mouth, its most likely going to be about a cannibal or psychopath. The use of blood is also very conventional of the horror genre.

• Typography that is used is conventional to a horror magazine with the use of a large red masthead that is eye- catching and appealing with this conventional colour. Text that is used is typically Sans- serif which adds to the boldness of the magazine which identifies important and conventional information relating to the horror genre. The text of the main article is always slightly larger which creates hype for the movie.

• The layout of the magazine uses the route of the eye as the first thing that is seen is the masthead followed by main image which is conventional to the genre and the majority of film front covers as it relates to the title below. Extra information is added at the bottom of the page which informs the target audience with things such as reviews, interviews and more which would attract attention and appeal to the target audience.

• The colours that are used are mainly black, red and white. This is typical for horror and is eye- catching to the audience. Also this range of colours have been placed and used in the way they have in order to contrast, and the text stands out more. The front cover is much more visually pleasing and conventional because of this.

FILM POSTERS• Typical codes and conventions of horror film posters make the target audience look forward to the movie as it’s

the first glimpse of what it will be like, for example, they will see the actor in character and find out what kind of sub genre it is (slasher, psychological, supernatural, gothic…) and thus attract the right type of crowd.

• One very conventional feature of a horror poster is the use on extreme close ups of the face, most commonly the eye. There is often a manipulation to the eye that creates an unnatural and eerie look, this draws the audience in because it is unusual. The crop of the eye fills the frame which generates impact and expresses the emotion of fear, as the eyes are often widened with fear. This makes the emotions relatable to the viewer and creates enigma due to the fact that nothing else can be seen other than the emotion and whatever manipulations have been applied. In the ‘Candyman’ poster for example, the iris is a deep red, and the silhouette of a dark figure, creating further enigma as we know the eye is seeing something we cant but we don’t know who or why. There are also parts where additional things have been added onto the eye, for example, in the movie ‘The eye’ a hand is coming out of the bottom of the eyelid. This makes the audience look at it in a different way, due to the unnatural and disturbing nature of this image, therefore making them drawn to the poster and the film. The eye is often that of the victims, as they are the character that feels fear along with the audiences, as we almost see what they see. The close crop and close up zoom means the viewer only gets a small sense of the themes and storyline of the film, making it a teaser poster, leading the audience to want to find out more and see the film. This is an effective convention due to these factors, and can be very effective for supernatural horror films.

• Many horror films use a house as a setting, so there are a number of horror film posters with a eerie photograph of the house, either with the protagonist in the foreground or the house on its own. The main genre which uses houses are psychological and supernatural horrors such as Insidious and House at the end of the street, however there are also slashers which take place in a house such as Amityville horror. The background around the house used is often dark and the sky is foggy or manipulated in order to look strange and unnatural. They are often large traditional houses and have the potential to be haunted and are creepy looking. When a movie is based in a house, it unsettles the viewer because of the feeling safety that is usually linked with the home. Posters in which a house is used often creates enigma because we do not know whether it is the people who live in the house or the house its self that causes the disequilibrium.

• Another effective convention used in horror posters is a dark figure. This pose is particularly effective at creating enigma, and is mostly used when depicting evil. The lighting that is used is usually dark and is sometimes backlit in order to highlight certain parts of the silhouette, often in unnatural ways to makes it seem more eerie. The fact the identity of the villain is concealed and there is only a small hint of what they are wearing, doing and what they look like creates mystery around the character and can be considered a teaser poster through this technique, as it makes the audience want to see the film due to the enigmatic nature. This convention is often used in slasher films as the villain is the key to the plot. For example, a serial killer with a bladed weapon. Low lighting is paired with the dark silhouette to carry on the mysterious atmosphere that this convention creates.