Deconstruction: Grave Encounters

Grave Encounters Trailer

This trailer is slightly different to those that I have previously looked at. 

The first thing to appear on screen is the production company to show the audience who made the film. This is an aspect featured heavily in all trailers. 

The only high key lighting used within the film, is at the beginning when the cast and crew are outside the building, doing the introduction to the TV programme. 

The lighting used within the trailer tends to be low level lighting as they are usually in the dark. This adds tension and suspense to the scene however when there is any light, it does tend to be amateur torch light as though a torch is being healed above the camera itself. This is a good idea as it limits the audience to what they can see, causing them to feel uneasy and shy away from the screen. 

The first shot we see is a mid shot of the TV presenter however, the camera is set on a tilt causing the angle to be off set rather than straight. This works well as it shows the audience that the cameraman is not a hollywood worthy cameraman.

This is followed by an establishing shot of the building they are going to enter. This is paired with a text overlay of the building's name. This allows the audience to have a mental picture of the location in which the film is set before they even watch the film itself. 

As most of the film is shot by different people, there tends to be a lot of camera shake - people running, changing camera man or just general nerves. Again, this shows the audience that the film they may chose to watch is so scary that even the cast and crew were petrified when filming it. The final angle that is featured heavily in this trailer is a low angle shot. This is done to show that the cast have no energy to hold the camera up anymore. It works well as it adds a sense of realism to the film. A green night vision is used in order to show the audience that the footage was in fact shot in complete darkness and even the crew cannot see what they can. This allows the cast to set themselves up for scares when the audience can see what is about to happen. 

A feature that does not appear in any other of the trailers I have looked at are interviews. This trailer consists of three mini 5 second interviews in order to add to the scare factor of the film. It gives 3 other people's views and experiences about the building that the crew are about to enter. It gives that extra little kick to the trailer as the audience are believing the film is 100% true. 

As before, this trailer uses little snippets from the film in order to build up a believable back story. They have images and footage of the building as well as footage recorded from when the building was in use. This may scare the audience a little bit more as they have solid proof that this building was a mental hospital and could therefore be haunted. 

Like Paranormal Activity, this trailer shows the audience the effects of being in the building. It shows them that they are far from safe and are in grave danger. The effects shown within the trailer are usually the worse ones within the entire film - in order to capture and draw the audience in so they watch the full tim. 

Like the other trailers, this one uses cliff hangers to build suspense and put the audience on the edge of their seat. The words "until now..." appear on a black background in white (classic horror colours) in order to show the audience that it wasn't always this way and that something has happened resulting in the following footage. 

Finally, the title is the last thing to appear on screen. Quarantine and Paranormal Activity had simple titles however they had a splash of colour on them. Grave Encounters is completely different. The words "Grave Encounters" appear on a black screen in white writing. The simplicity of the title adds to the eeriness of the footage the audience have just seen. 

Sound

When the production company appears, a low quite drone is playing which is the beginning of the parallel non-diegetic sound of the trailer. The same sound is played at the very end when the title of the film appears. This sound cuts out due to the sound of static from the cameras that the crew are using to film. This is a diegetic sound due to the fact that it is there as the crew turn the cameras on - it is the consequence of turning the equipment on. During the middle section of the trailer, where all the tension is occurring, there is a non-diegetic voice over from the presenting of the TV show, describing the background story of how this building came to be derelict and haunted. Whenever there is a change between the footage and a statement about the building, there is the sound of an old fashioned camera, rewinding itself after a photograph has been taken. This is a non-diegetic sound used to create tension for the audience as they are not expecting it - possibly making them jump.