Nicky's Research Into Similar Products

Textual Anaylsis 1

I have decided that I am going to analyse the conjuring 2 trailer, as it is a rather new film that has been released, so the trailer is going to have some techniques that the audience may feel interested for.
Conjuring 2 carries on from the first conjuring, both films include families that are haunted by ghosts and both have hunters or paranormal investigators (Lorraine, and Ed Warren) to try and protect the families from bad things from happening. The conjuring 2 is about a single mother raising four children in a house with an evil spirit, this is set in 1977. During this trailer I feel that it is very clear that the genre of this  film is horror, due to it following the conventions of the genre. I feel that this also gives us good ideas about what we could include in our trailer.
Having the backing of one of the big 6 makes this film having more of the chance of having more money to market there film, therefor leading for better circulation of the trailer (affording to put it on YouTube home advertising(costs around a million pounds per day)) and posters, and magazine interviews. This also means that the trailers are more likely to have better quality.

Within the trailer there is fast editing, specifically when you can see the paranormal activity happen. This fast editing is joined with screams, which turns the fast editing into something rather scary. Fast editing is usually common with supernatural horror, therefore this also shows that the film is going to be horror. The black shots in between the camera shots also shows that the film is horror, as it builds suspense and that it splits the sections in the trailer which also shows that the trailer is not everything that is the film. This again gives the film a good build, possibly meaning that there is going to be more audience in the cinemas. There is a zoom in just before the really fast editing of the supernatural action, on this shot there is a drag up of the directors name, I feel that this good as it is not disrupting the trailer its self, its not changing the way it is set. I think it also increases the build up, as you are focusing on the spinning wheel, but the name is also coming into view. This may also persuade the audience to look at other films that have been directed by 'James Wan'. There is not much writing on the screen during this trailer so the things that are on the screen are more memorable for the audience to remember, therefore increasing the publicity of the director, and actors. After the really fast editing the shots changes slow down a bit, giving an idea that the action has slowed down a bit, but then is a shock to the audience when the editing begins to speed up a bit. this shows that the film isn't all fast paced but there is a lot that is. The building up of the speed of editing shows that although the  film may slow down at certain points the excitement of the film does not stop. During this editing technique they used like a old film wheel was used a lot to change the setting or time of the plot, this then identifies that the film is not set in just one day, it is set over a period of time.

During the trailer there is some non-diegetic music, string music to be exact, the music starts pretty low and then gets higher. This diegetic music is used a lot during horror films, so therefore is iconic, which means that the audience knows that it is a horror genre, as they have probably heard similar music throughout multiple horror films, and trailers. During the first part of the trailer we hear the young girl speaking, the dialogue is in a low whispered tone, again this is usually in horror trailer. The dialogue however is very informative on what the film is about, however it does not give the whole plot away to the audience. This gives the audience a sense of suspense, specifically to what is going to happen as in the trailer we hear the young victim tell her mother that the 'spirit is wanting to hurt her'. Behind the dialogue we hear other diegetic sounds, such as the wind, the squeaky swing set, and the wind getting worse. These sounds also connote the sense of horror, as we know that these sounds exist, but these are identified more in the horror genre rather than any other genre. This therefore in forces the style of film the conjuring 2 is. After this section in the trailer is when the string non-diegetic music begins. Also during this when the fast editing starts the non-diegetic music speeds up and becomes a lot deeper, therefore connoting the sense of panic and terror, as deep, loud music normally symbolises this.

The lighting in this trailer is dark, with very little light, therefore only really using background and the light from the objects being used in the shots. This lack of key lighting is typically used in horror films, giving the audience a sense of dread and distress, specifically because many people are told to be careful of the dark. with the low key lighting the film then re-enforces this to the audience, as they believe that most bad things happen at night. With this being a psychological/supernatural horror they may have wanted to scare, especially that they still feel slightly scared after the trailer, and if they go to see the film. With it having sections of supernatural involved it usually seen that paranormal activity happens after dark, therefor going along with the convention of typical paranormal horrors.

There are multiple shots that are used throughout the trailer. There are some medium close up shots, specifically when there is a conversation between two characters, this shows that they are trying to be serious and that they are both relatively important in the conversation. Towards the end of the trailer, we see more close ups of the victim,especially when the paranormal activity began to show in the trailer, this was to show the victims facial expressions, to identify the scary parts of the film. These close ups of the victim also help the audience identifies that she is the victim of the paranormal activity. There are also panning shots that follow the house, showing multiple rooms of the house, as we can see that there are only few of the rooms shown, it helps the audience identify that these are the rooms that are probably most significant to the film. But at the beginning of the trailer we see the shots following into the backyard where we see the possible main characters of the film. We can tell that these are the main characters in this film due them being the first ones we see on the screen.

The setting of the conjuring 2 follows the convention of the typical horror film, It follows the convention of other horror films as they are set in an abandoned house, thid may make the target audience feel more scared than other horror  films that are set in other places (e.g in the woods), as it is set in a house and the circumstances of the family may be real, it gives the audience a sense of fright that it could happen to them, especially if they believe that paranormal creatures exist. The colours of the set aren't very bright, again going with the convention of typical psycho-horror, the darker duller colours usually connote the sense of evil, and death, with connation of death it foresees that there is going to be paranormal activity, especially as you can tell that the house would have been abandoned for a while before the new family have moved in. We are also able to tell this by the diegetic sound of the wind and swing squeaking, this emphasises that the house was not lived in for a while before the family in the film had moved in. Horror films also have the conventions that the protagonist wears normal, casual, civilian clothes, which therefore also helps the audience feel more toward the victim of the film, and it also makes the audience feel as though they are part of the film as they would also be wearing casual clothing. However this is set in a different time period which may also separate the audience from those in the film, also closing down on the scariness of the film, however this may not always be true. During the trailer crosses are seen which is also part of supernatural horror, or psych-horror, this is so that the audience believe that the antagonist is against god, and good, This may help with Christians that are watching films as they may not want to belive that god would allow anything bad to be under his control.