American Horror Story analysis
Horror films are all made in a distinctive way- they all share similar features throughout their trailers in order to meet the best success criteria to make their horror good. The first video below is of "American horror story: Hotel" where it shows very strange and intriguing effects and techniques to make it horror like; within the clips there are flashes and fast jumps between the clips which make it suitable for jump scares and confusion- confusion is quite an important factor in horror films as the viewers will not be able to predict what is happening and what is going to happen. Furthermore the lighting that is used in the trailer is mostly dark with slight glimmers of light which adds a creepy effect and enables to attract the view of the audience onto a specific person, object or other highly relevant and important factor within the scene. In addition, one of the most interesting effects added i is that the clip is sped and slowed down in order to give an even stranger and creepier effect- this effect could be used in order to show a scene of something being rewinded and re-shown. Supplementary effects that were used weren't necessarily to do with the camera editing but were to do with the way they filmed their scene and where they chose their setting to be- they tend to film in small, claustrophobic areas which makes the scene tense. Finally, there is a use of creepy music combined with red writing which gives it the finishing touch. I believe that the majority of horrors are done this way as they are (in my opinion) the best types of trailers.
Paranormal Activity 4
Paranormal Activity 4 has many different features to the first video of American Horror Story- there aren't many flashes in scenes and it is very basic- a hand held technique is used which gives you a sense of safety and normality- what makes Paranormal Activity unique to American Horror Story is that it has a story to it rather than just a heap of confusion. This technique can be used to give a story and deceive the audience into thinking that everything is all good and everyone is safe. The fact that everyone is just being normal and there are things that are added into the trailer that makes them jump in their handheld scene makes it all very unpredictable.
Sinister
Sinister has a very different approach to it's trailer- it portrays horror in a completely different style; within the trailer you can see the people attached to the tree being brutally hanged at a slow and painful way, not only is it painful for the victim, but it is also painful to watch. This technique that has been used was utilised in order to make the audience want it to go faster, they want it to skip to another shot, wanting more film but with differentiation throughout. The fact that it is an old tape my also add the effect of it being portrayed as something real, which enumerates to the shock effect. There is also a continuous sound of nature that casts a cold awareness amongst the viewers. Even though the noises are coming from living things, all you can think about is death. Using the opposites of something to portray itself is a very unique technique and isn't easily noticed by the audience, but it does really give off a creepy atmosphere.