Audience Research survey results

It trailer analysis

It is a remake of the 1990 version of Stephen King's novel turned mini-series also called It. It is based in a small American town (Derry, Maine) where children are going missing, the film features Pennywise the clown, a killer clown who has a history of murder and violence that dates back for centuries. The trailer is 152 seconds long, which is the average time of a full length horror trailer.

The trailer begins with a close-up shot of the older brother making a paper boat for his younger brother Georgie to play with in the street. The trailer continues with Georgie chasing his paper boat down the street in heavy rainfall, this is pathetic fallacy and could be connoting the emotions of the town's people. The paper boat floats down a drain to which Georgie reaches down the drain and reveals a jumpscare to both us and himself when Pennywise the clown is seen down the drain, this helps to introduce the villain of the film to the audience. This is followed by the intertitle "From Stephen King's terrifying novel". this gives audience members background information on the origins of the film and the film's narrative.

One of the next scenes in the trailer is of the outside of a high school at the end of the school day, with the camera panning out to a noticeboard with warnings issued by the police department reinforcing "REMEMBER THE CURFEW 7 P.M." with the 7 in red colour, the colour red is a connotation of danger meaning that if the children aren't in by 7 they could face dangers as police notices are for public safety. This is then followed by a shot of a missing boy poster on a telephone pole informing the audience of past events in the town of Derry, showing that the equilibrium of the film's diegesis already has a negative tone to it.

The scene before the action begins is in a classroom setting where we see a young boy turning around to see a singular red balloon floating through the classroom. The red is a connotation of danger whereas the balloon implies innocence, this could be suggesting that the innocent children are in danger, the sound mixing to go along with this scene creates a strange eerie noise, this is to build suspense before the action begins. One of the following scenes uses an establishing shot to make us aware of the location. this happens to be an old abandoned mansion in which the children are stopped in front of looking curiously at, this leads us to believe the house will be a key part in the film.

In another scene the boys are seen sat in a house with the blinds shut, which we could presume is the mansion, viewing old photos via an old projector on the wall. The images begin with family photos, they then progress to getting faster out of the childrens control, the photos then become pictures of Pennywise the clown, to which when the scene cuts we see the children fleeing from the mansion.

At the end of the trailer intertitles "THIS SEPTEMBER", "WHAT", "ARE YOU", "AFRAID OF?" with the soundtrack intensifying after each intertitle getting eerier and louder building suspense and tension, accompanied by intense scenes of action of the children running away from Pennywise and getting stalked by Pennywise with a close up shot of Pennywise's claw like nails coming out ready to attack, this ensures that the audience know that he is the villain within the film and with it being a scary scene makes the audience watching feel frightened. The trailer ends with Georgie and his brother Bill in the sewers to which Georgie says "Bill if you come with me you'll float too", Georgie keeps repeating "you'll float too" and with each time he says it his face gets more and more sinister until he shouts "you'll float too" and Pennywise comes out from under the water and runs to the camera with a loud scream to create a jumpscare. Georgie saying "you'll float too" links back to the beginning when his brother makes him a paper boat to play with which falls into the sewer, which is where the last scene of the trailer is taking place, giving audiences the impression of the sewer being an important location to the film's narrative.

The Boy trailer analysis

The Boy is a mystery horror film directed by William Brent Bell in 2016. The film is about an American babysitter (Lauren Cohan) who is hired to babysit for an English family who's child is a life-sized doll, after she violates a strict set of rules, disturbing events make her believe the doll is actually alive. The trailer lasts 144 seconds, which is average for a full length horror trailer.

The trailer begins with a long shot of the English family's mansion, establishing the location which the film is going to take place at, this is conventional of many trailers and not just horror trailers as it gives the audience insight into where the film's events are going to happen or one of the key locations of the film, in The Boy it gives the audience an . This is then followed by a variety of different mid shots and mid long shots and an over the shoulder shot introducing the main character (Greta), the Heelshire family and the doll, Greta is hown in most shots so viewers can identify her as the leading character of the film.

Near the beginning of the trailer Greta is given a list of rules by the doll's parents to follow which include "Don't cover his face", "Never leave him alone" and "Don't forget to feed him", these rules take up the full screen on the trailer one after the over accompanied by Greta going against these rules after each rule is displayed on screen before the next, in the last of the three scenes of Greta defying the list of rules given to her the doll is at the dinner table whilst she is scraping a plate of food, presumably for the doll, into the bin, in the next shot the doll is no longer at the table, this is the beginning of the film's events taking place.

At the beginning of the trailer there is a calming soundtrack which contains chiming instruments, this helps to create a sombre atmosphere. The trailer contains lots of dialogue, this builds narrative and familiarises us with the characters, for example, we learn that the owners of the house are English and that the babysitter is American. As the action in the trailer intensifies, the background music becomes sharper and louder, this is to create tension within the scenes. Finally, at the end the sound is mixed to play a slow lullaby, this connotes the idea of innocence, however the high pitched noise and its similarity to a jack in a box makes it seem sinister.

As the trailer progresses the lighting contrasts from ambient naturalistic light then saturates making the scenes appear dull and darker. This is to connote the dark themes that are going to play out within the film, as well as this the pace of the editing of shots shortens and more action takes place as well as intertitles "WHEN YOU BREAK HIS RULES", "YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE", "WILL COME TO LIFE" with the intensity of the scenes progressing into more scary scenes showing violence and paranormal activities and at the end of the trailer there is a jumpscare where Greta leans to get a closer look at a painting of Brahms (the doll) and is grabbed by the throat and pulled towards it, with this being a fast scene combined with a loud noise it creates an effective jumpscare.

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