Film trailer script

Im Liam How (Rebecca and Emma introduce themselves) and were A2

Media students at Christ the King Sixth Form College. Two of the trailers
Im going to analyse are from the horror genre whilst the other is from the
comedy genre. The first film trailer Im going to analyse is Deliver us from
Evil (Show Deliver us from Evil poster) which was released in 2014 starring
Eric Bana, dgar Ramrez, Sean Harris, Olivia Munn, Scott Derrickson and
Joel McHale with the director being Scott Derrickson. My second film is
Sinister (Show Sinister poster) which was released in 2012 starring Ethan
Hawke, Juliet Rylance and James Ransone with the director once again
being Scott Derrickson. My final trailer is different from the other two as
its a comedy film called Bad Neighbours (Show Bad Neighbours poster)
starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and
Dave Franco with the director being Nicholas Stoller. The main codes and
conventions of trailers include a certification screen, the studios involved,
the cast and crew, various speeds from different genres and the lengths of
the trailers which can often vary from 1 minute up to 4 minutes.
In Deliver us from Evil the first shot we see is of a certification screen
(Show certification screen). This basically states that the following trailer
has been approved by the MPAA which is the Motion Picture Association of
America. The purpose is to state the age at which people can watch the
film and what sort of things the films include like drugs, sexual content
etc. The certification screen also appears in Sinister and Project X with the
same format used (Show certification screen). The certification has to
appear before every film trailer as its a legal requirement to inform
audiences of the age required to watch the film.
The second shot in all three trailers is of the studio/production companies
that the films were developed through. In the first trailer Deliver us from
Evil we see that the film was made through screen gems which is a
subsidiary of Sony Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Studios who has worked
on numerous successful films (Show studio screen). Together they would
provide the film with a large budget. The second shot in Sinister is also of
the studio which is Summit Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Lions gate
Company. They would also have a large budget as Lions gate is another
big company (Show studio screen). My final film Project X also has a large
budget as the studios that helped to produce it were Silver Pictures and
Green Hat Films. These are large companies which have been successful
with many other movies (Show studio screen).
I have analysed two different the genres, the first being horror and the
other being comedy. The two horror films are Deliver us from Evil and
Sinister as they both follow certain codes and conventions relating to the
specific genre. The first convention is that the films are set in a secluded

location. In Deliver us from Evil we see that the film is set in a small town
but what makes it even more secluded is that its set at night which means
its even more quiet than usual (Show setting). In Sinister we see that the
film is set in a single house on a quiet road. This is because the house is
haunted and it creates the feeling of entrapment (Show setting). My
comedy film, Project X, can be said to be teen comedy because all of the
main characters are adolescents and all they do is want to party which is
why they create a massive party. Therefore the main setting in this film is
at a large party with many things such as drugs and sexual references
involved (Show party). Both of the horror trailers also start off and involve
an investigation. Deliver us from Evil involves an investigation of a lady
acting strange at the zoo. This is when they find out that the lady is in fact
possessed (Show scene). Similar to Sinister where the man goes into the
loft and investigates what is up there which is when he finds a box all
alone in the loft. Being a horror film the protagonist checks out the film
inside the box and when watching he finds shots of the gruesome murders
(Show scene). My comedy trailer starts the opposite with it getting
straight into the action. The Project X trailer straight goes to the mayhem
seen with fires everywhere. This to show the audience straight away the
chaos they cause (Show scene). Another code/convention the horror films
have is where it goes quiet and then the silence ends with a jump scare. In
Deliver us from Evil the quiet moment happens in his daughters room
after the light flickers. The owl toy then starts rolling whilst making noises.
The father looks under the bed and looks in the mirror to see a possessed
character appear beside his daughters bed (Show scene). Likewise in
Sinister it goes quiet then the father looks in the picture then looks away.
When he looks away the audience see that the demons face moves in the
picture. (Show scene).
In Sinister 35 seconds in we see possibly the most significant scene in the
whole trailer. As the father goes up to the attic he notices a dark box alone
on the floor. In horrors this usually means that this could be the starting
point of the fear and supernatural. As we see further on in this scene
inside the box there is a tape and on this tape it appears happy and calm
at first but then this soon changes with the film switching to a family
hanging and a mysterious figure being seen. I think this was chosen
because it signifies to people that this is the point where everything starts
to go downhill. In the scene and pretty much the whole trailer the father
could be one of the significant characters because he is the one that
makes all the big decisions like moving into the house, writing the book,
putting the tape on so he could watch it etc. Also the main antagonist in
the mask and costume is another key character because he is the one
causing all the fear and mayhem throughout the trailer. He is involved in
the killings, the hauntings and everything else that could possibly scare
the audience. The dialogue used would show the father as being the
authoritive figure. The dialogue he used is quite decisive and can be seen

as bossy in some circumstances. His determination comes through in the

way he speaks to everyone in the family and he really wants to make the
new move into this house work. This trailer relates to Todorovs theory
quite closely. At the start of the trailer we see a state of equilibrium with
the family having a new start in their lives by moving in to a new house.
Then comes a disruption of this equilibrium through the action that the
father takes by finding the tape inside the box, taking it out and playing it
showing what had previously happened at the house and the frightening
figure behind it. A recognition that an equilibrium has been disrupted
could be when the father goes to the police reporting the tapes and what
is on them. He then talks to a man about the symbols and where he tries
to burn the tapes which could be a sign that hes trying to repair the
damage that he has caused to the equilibrium.