REAL MEDIA TEXT INVESTIGATION

LIZZY MCDONALD

REAL MEDIA TEXTIn the following slides I will analyse existing horror trailers and how they relate to typical conventions found in existing horror trailers.

Conventions typically found in horror trailers:

• Tension and suspense

• Scary music

• Isolated setting

• Supernatural monster or criminal

• Fast cuts towards the end of the trailer

• Death

• Short takes

• Dark lighting

THE PURGE

The Purge follows the typical conventions of a horror trailer as it contains a lot of tension building action and death. There is a lot is suspense and jumpy moments with darkness within the trailer which relates a lot to the horror genre. All of these aspects add together to make a successful horror trailer. Another typical convention is that people with the most power as seen as the victims, which shows the target audience that the poorer people wont be the only victims.

THE STRANGERS

The strangers trailer starts off as everything is meant to be normal and could be considered at the start as a romance genre trailer. But then everything changes when there is big bangs and causes tension for the audience. During this trailer there is a lot tension building music and pauses to make the target audience be on edge so it s a successful trailer.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

Although the trailer for paranormal activity 3 follows the typical conventions of the horror genre such as darkness and supernatural monsters. In some aspects it goes against the typical conventions of a horror genre. Firstly there is not fast paced action towards the end of the trailer there are no quick snippets of the horror that happens throughout the film. The Proairetic Code is not very prominent within the trailer as it does not necessarily make the audience keep guessing or waiting for the next piece of action. Furthermore this trailer does not follow Aristole’s linear narrative theory but possibly a circular narrative as the sequels of the films work backwards.