This trailer features a plethora of conventions not only relating to horror but film trailers in general. From the very start of the trailer there is an air of ambience as a sweeping pan reveals a desolate forest engulfed in fog, non-diegetic sound supports this with a deep "boom". The scene is immediately set and people can easily associate this as some form of horror. What comes next is a series of shots cutting between black screens that show the phrase "There is a town, that hell, calls home". The scene is now set for the audience and chilling tagline combined with chilling deformed creatures and gut wrenching sound creates an air of fear.The camera work is as disconcerting as the sound with the randomness at which it swaps between wide shots and close up making it hard to focus on any one thing.
Cut to a women waking from a bad, the mood of the trailer changes. The music becomes almost surreal with the piano theme being played. It is important to note here that this is the "Silent Hill" theme and therefore fans of the games and previous movie would now recognise the film for what it is. The Open Road logo is shown, a convention in all trailers as to give credit to the people who worked on the film. Scenes are shown from the girls school before the surreal music stops, the corridor suddenly becomes rust coloured and run down. A twitching monster (mannequin) can be seen in the foreground and she backs into one of the other students returning the corridor to normal. "But the nightmare wants her back" This trailer and its use of text combined with editing not only creates tension and interest with the viewer but also flashes references of the original silent hill games thus influencing fans of silent hill into watching the film.
The trailer continues in a linear fashion. It portrays the essence of the story without giving too much away which is often the convention of most trailers. The trailer also picks up in pace towards the end. This is done so that the most prominent thoughts of a viewer of that is what they last saw, tension and fear.
An unconventional trailer, 2004's Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Taking on the guise of an anti-aging commercial this trailer for 2004's resident evil is as unconventional as a horror trailer could possibly be. Withholding on the scares it has a very calm atmosphere as it advertises Regenerate from the umbrella corporation (an evil organisation who create a zombie virus in the first film and the games). To those with prior knowledge it is clearly a trailer for resident evil but to the shock of those who do not know about the franchise it would come as quite a shock when the woman's rejuvenated face suddenly becomes disfigured and it cuts away to a vertical pan of a desolate street and a lone woman with a shotgun. This then aptly returns to the original commercial and mentions the release date and name of the movie.
I have chosen to look at this trailer as it is purposefully unconventional which makes it extremely interesting to watch and rather intriguing as a piece of editing. Something of this nature would definitely catch the eye of someone and stick with them much longer than a normal trailer would.
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