Film Trailer analysis - Grave Encounters

Grave Encounters is a supernatural horror film shot in the found footage style where it is recorded by a video camera in a first person point of view as made famous by The Blair Witch Project. The crew of "Grave Encounters", a ghost-hunting reality television show, are shooting an episode inside the abandoned Psychiatric Hospital, where the show host, Lance, takes the crew for investigation of the unexplained phenomena that has been reported for years. Accompanied with him are Sasha, a supernatural expert, Camera Man "T.C.", a technical expert named Matt, and a psychic named Houston. At first, while filming an introduction before the lock down, Lance is skeptical of the existence of ghosts and even bribes the gardener into claiming on film about supernatural occurrences.

The name of the film appears quite near the end of the trailer because the trailer features a lot of text instead of a voice over meaning the trailer doesn't appear too text-heavy. By showing the audience the film's title at the end of the trailer it creates a sustained memory of the footage they have just seen.

The typography, effects and colour used in the title are evocative of ghosts (bright and glowing), suggesting as well as the language -'grave' has connotations of death- that the film's plot involves the characters meeting with the ghosts. The word encounters is enlarged indicating that the movie's focus is on the conflict between ghosts and humans. As it is a low budget independent film, the trailer does not mention the actors but it does include information about the production team, expanding on its ‘caught in the moment’ style of filming. The name 'The Vicious Brothers' indicates that the director and writers of the film specialise in the horror genre. 

Infra red/night vision/low key lighting Cinematography enhances spine-chilling mood and somehow. Medium close up shot of actress allows for a enables the shot to look realistic yet still more sinister and intense atmosphere dramatic . Actress is positioned in the middle of frame, •almost all the scenes are filled with greys, makes the audience focus entirely on her beiges, and other neutrals colours. No use of transition methods, taken in one murky , supernatural atmosphere shot , fast paced– increases audiences horrified. Depressed, low ambience achieved reaction to 3rd shot as suspense is not gradually. The gloomy colour and lighting is perfectly Sound associated with the horror genre. Dialogue between characters increases highlights the importance of the character realism within the frame by drawing the audiences Diegetic sound of actress screaming - such a attention towards her even though there is shrilling and horrifying sound makes the not a bright light source. viewer jump. Connotations of the lighting and colours  followed by low background and ambient sounds which give depth to the scene gives the scene atmosphere Editing Mise-en-scene. Back turned to the audience builds gradual image taken in one shot- purpose of this was tension to fully intensify the scene. Actresses hair is tangled and un-brushed, This fast paced editing also allows for a white dressing gown is dirty suggests she will bigger reaction/impact from the audience be unruly and untamed, before she even Emphasises the action od the trailer and turns around. works well with the horror genre. Facial expression when actress turns around is alarming yet strangely innocent, direct eye Special Effects contact with camera therefore direct eye 3rd screen shot of actors eyes and mouth contact with audience amplifies terror. blackening shocks the audience- unexpected • Chilling hand gestures – fingers curled and awful thus adding immensely to the •Bathroom setting –this choice of setting horror, could even be the climatic point of gives a claustrophobic feel, drawing viewers the trailer. more deeply into the horror.

Diegetic sounds throughout each scene, dialogue between characters gives the audience a brief Cinematography overview of the narrative before any action occurs. Dialogue between characters gives wide frame audience an insight into the dilemma of the film.  Over the shoulder close up shot of light whistling wind as old lady speaks , old lady, hooded man positioned slightly cut out creates a supernatural eerie aura. of the shot. Simulates the view of the lady as Ddrect dialogue with camera, eye contact seen from the mans eyes makes viewer believe they are being spoken directly •3rd image: main character placed in the middle to. of the shot to enable focus solely on him, could Mise-en-scene even be a point of view shot. Actors and actress wearing predominantly dark, Lighting&Colour dull colours mainly black- this advocates a High-key /natural lighting in 1st and 3rd image - gloomy aura and viewer will immediately recognise shot in the daytime. This makes the beginning what genre it is. of the trailer appear realistic and connotes ideas •Stern facial expressions of the characters, no smiling of normality before the trailer transcends into or indications of happiness to specify anything but a the supernatural and spooky. This technique is horror film. typical of the horror genre. 1st image of character in a dark hallway, streaks of .The lighting in the 1st and 3rd shot also creates sunlight coming through, a lot of shadows creating a relatively calm and stable mood . miserable atmosphere. 2nd image is still set in the daytime, however as image set in a graveyard, typical horror genre nd the trailer begins to deepen the lighting has setting, typical frail lady foreshadowing gloomy become slightly darker enabling more shadows Image set outside the main setting of the plot rd to appear and creating a paranormal (psychiatric hospital), main character introducing atmosphere. audience to the plot of the film. Although it is possible that the lighting could Editing be artificial and the shadows could have been. Each shot lasts for about 2-3 seconds generating a edited in the 2st image fast paced trailer. The choice of high key lighting in the 1st and 3rd Uses the most common of transition– simple cut image highlights the important characters Abrupt cuts to move the narrative forward and within the frame by drawing the audiences emphasise the action. attention towards who is in the light source. Each image replaces the other immediately making the scenes more abrupt, giving that ‘shock factor’

During these images there is a image of trees, tall big voiceover explaining the setting of haunted buildings, clouds Cinematography the film and the characters who gathering, daylight. A crane long shot previously inhabited in it. transcending into night-time of the building at the .This provides the viewer with typical horror genre beginning of trailer, in information that the moving images techniques. order to establish setting in itself would not clarify. forlorn rooms, peeling paint, and location. .Diegetic sounds in the 3 rd image of and decaying structure are 2nd and 3rd image are actor howling and scratching the paramount in this production establishing shots with a wide walls. The derelict turned over frame to denote the context Editing bath tubs makes it more for the scene by showing the Cutaway shot haunted, suggests presence of relationship between ‘Grave Each shot last for around 3-4 a n unseen character. Encounters’ important figures seconds 3rd image: writings on the wall, and objects. The speed of editing single bed, actor scratching at Lighting & Colour contextualizes the trailer cleverly the walls; indications to the blue-grey tones and harsh giving the audience historical and audience of madness. Also the shadows synchronized with the fact that the actor is not locational information . tortured , haunting themes. wearing any clothes intrigues The slower speed of these Use of infra red lighting images gradually builds up the the viewer, placing a lot of spotlight in 3rd shot allows action rather than emphasising it. questions in their mind. audience to focus solely on Cross-fades from one image to actor, setting and the writings the next on the wall . Low lighting dramatizes the accurate description of the setting scene making it more spooky of the film, whilst the viewer Lighting and colour used reads this the clouds are moving associates well with the genre. rapidly suggesting shifts in time. Highlights important objects. Caption in 3rd image denotes within the frame by drawing the “archival footage 1932-1949”, audiences attention towards giving historical pretext sets a them more lifelike yet thrilling tone. Colour creates a ghostly mood and contributes to the narrative which usually have connotations of supernaturalism 

 1st image at the very beginning of the trailer is the institution that produced the film, viewer may already be familiar with company and their previous works therefore encourages them to go and watch the film. As the text glows the letters slowly disappears creating a sinister mood before any images have been shown.• Slow transitions of text, allures the viewer, each caption lasting for around 2 seconds. Black background - very typical colour convention of a horror trailer dark, gloomy colour to create a sense of mystery and suspense. white Adobe Garamond Pro font , simplistic not anything to stand out or deter viewers from the action of the trailer. Diegetic sounds ; woman weeping throughout the slow transitions of the credits , this keeps the viewer engaged even when taglines are being shown, tells the reader that there is a lot more to come if they watch the actual film. At the very end there are a series of a high pitched, shrilling screams leaving an impact on the viewer as it is unanticipated, gives the shock factor that a horror genre is renown for. 
 

However variation is employed as well. The trailer doesn't include a release date and it doesn't feature all of the visual identifiers of a horror film (such as props and costume) because it is not marketed as a normal horror feature with conflict resolution. Instead the premise of the film is that it is a 'film-within-a-film' about ghost hunting. The concept is postmodern and quite novel so the audience would expect the trailer not to adhere to all the horror film conventions. In my own horror film trailer, I would be careful to use a mix of conventions and variations because the interested viewer could not find out when the film comes out on DVD or in cinemas by watching this trailer. Although it's a limited release movie, it could diminish a potential audience's interest in the film.

The type of action from the film presented to the audience emphasises that it is a horror film. At first it is less scary because the plot is being introduced but towards the end the images become quite graphic. The trailer indicates that the film's USP is that it has a strong plot as well as the type of action horror fans would expect. The contrapunctual change that takes place in the middle of the clip (where it becomes about making the programme about the hospital) is signified by the different style of text. The soundtrack of the trailer is a mixture of a pulsating beat to mirror the build-up of momentum and a high pitched drone sound is more typical of a horror film score, enhancing the eeriness of the action. Instead of a voice-over, dialogue is used from the actual film so it helps to establish familiarity with the character when the audience sees the film. We can also infer that the man narrating is the film's protagonist so when the trailer begins to show the scarier moments of the film we begin to sympathise with the character. The voice used creates a serious tone initially yet shifts to a more frightened tone to generate excitement within the audience.
The action shown in the trailer is initially shown at the same pace of a clip in the film and as the trailer goes on, the clip lengths become shorter and shorter leading to a slightly longer clip at the 'climax'. The shifting pace mirrors the use of sound effects, keeping the viewer engaged with everything going on all at once.

The last frames of the trailer are the title, the credits for the film and its website. The production notes emphasise that it is going to be a scary film; the writer and director's name ('The Vicious brothers') lead the audience to expect this. Unusually there is no release date for the film which would help build up anticipation for it.

cinema at a late time before a film aimed at a teenage or older audience because of some of the images that appear in it. Likewise, on television it would probably be shown after family viewing hours to make sure it only reaches its intended target audience. Also, horror and thriller films are shown on TV during the late hours so it could potentially be reaching fans of those genres likely to see this film.