Qualitative Trailer Research

I have analysed trailers in order to help me get ideas on what sort of conventions grindhouse slasher films follow.

Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed by John Carpenter. This film is considered culturally and historically significant because it was produced on a budget of $320,000 but it grossed $47.3 million at the box office in the US and $60 million worldwide so it became one of the most profitable independent films. It is also significant because some argue that it was first in a long line of slasher films which were inspired by Alferd Hitchcock’s Pyscho (1960) and because several if not many conventions originated from the film .
In the planning of our trailer we tried to follow similar conventions because the film basically set the outline for slasher films and one of these conventions was the idea that the killer watches his victims and this is shown in one of our shots where the final girl turns and the killer is behind her and we don’t see him until she has turned and walked off.
In the trailer for Halloween the music changes just like in ours the pace of the music changes in different shots, a lot of point of view shots mainly from the killers point of view and we have based our trailer mostly on the killer stalking his victims where ever they are especially the final girl.
The name of the film is repeated several times which we tried to do as well and there is an end card which has the name of the film on and the production company similar to ours.
The whole sequence of the trailer is the same as in how the pace is slow at the beginning but towards the middle it builds up and there is a little bit of action and the pace goes back down again. As the action builds in the shot the music builds up as well changing into a different sound theme or stopping. As he kills someone the sound changes and is more alarming in a way to emphasis the shock of the action for the audience. There is also a voiceover which is similar to our trailer as in its also deep in pitch.

This is the trailer for the film Halloween;