Movie Trailers

Paranormal activity 3

I find this trailer very interesting because of its editing, and because of the idea that the shots used are previously filmed footage being watched back in short clips, much like a compilation of different flashbacks.

• I think that very obviously the last shot in this film is the scariest, once the children play innocent pranks on each other after saying Bloody Mary 3 times into a mirror they both leave the room and the camera in it.
• When they open the door and leave, the lighting differences between the other rooms and the mirror room reveales a shadowy figure in the mirror which just stands there. It isnt made clear if the figure is standing in front or behind the camera but either way you cant see it in the foreground, you can only see it in the mirror.
• I think one of the main scary parts of this scene is the fact that the camera is left behind to see the ghost, i think that this makes the viewer feel alone and pretty much helpless against the ghost, its a camera, its not going to run away like a person would.
• The way they cut between the clips with short transitions as if someone is tamperring with the camera could show that someone is watching this footage and it shows that this footage has already been filmed and therefore they know that something must have happened. Most films are based on what is happening, this makes it seem suprising that certain things happen, however this film is based on what has happened and therefore this may make people think that something bad has happened within the footage.
• I think that the shots used in this movie trailer could be used in a trailer which we could produce because it is all filmed with amateur footage which was filmed with a crappy camera. This means that its ok if you filmed with a couple of problems (you can see the camera and the tripod in the mirror, you wouldnt usually see that in any film) because you could justify it by saying that this film is based on a true story which was filmed by kids or teenagers.

Shaun of the dead

This is a comedy horror film which is very well known, I chose this trailer because:

• There is a large amount of editing, what I'm particularly interested in here are the effects, the short, fast transitions which resemble a broken camera, or a false signal on a TV.
• I also like the freeze frames which show you the emotions of the characters, even though in this they show you funny faces, I think this could be very useful for showing background horror which you wouldn't usually be able to see.
• There is also a very interesting shot which starts at 1:06, this shot is divided into three different parts, each bit has significant lines in it which relate to the whole film, Shaun doesn't like Ed called them zombies. This is a basic replacement for titles in-between shots, however it might not put the point across quite as much as titles would because of the differences of a normal shot and a title shot. 

Dawn of the Dead

There are a few different interesting points about this trailer:

• Towards the 3/4 mark, there is a part of the trailer which splits a range of shots into shot - black - shot - black and in-between these shots there are loud violin strings, I think this is a very effective technique for making it more horrific.
• Close to the beginning of the trailer when the girl bites the man, there is a short pause where everything goes silent and suddenly a huge scream scares the crap out of you, this seems like an effective technique which could be easy to use.