The Strangers

Notes made while watching trailer:

• Isolated house setting - creates the impression of a lack of safety or comfort and a strange atmosphere
• Romance between two characters is established - more upsetting when bad things start to occur
• Typical, cosy interior of house - Creates a feeling of comfort, which will later be broken
• Low key lighting - main convention of the thriller/horror genre
• Sound of creeky swing throughout beginning of trailer - unnerving and disturbing noise, which emphasises the silence and therefore the characters panic
• Set at night-time - links to their fear as many people are afraid of the dark
• Inter titles used to discompose audiences - 'We always tell ourselves theres nothing to fear'
• Record player gets stuck- music amplifies on repeat- disturbing- however the music is asynchronous as it is relatively happy, contrasting with the events of the film
• Non-chronological - conventional of trailers as it gives a disordered insight into the film
• Entirety of trailer is in one setting - memorable location, emphasises isolation
• Masked people as antagonist - hidden identity is something that people fear, masks are also associated with Halloween and other horror films.
• Quick cuts towards end of trailer create fast paced editing - represents the build in the victims fear
• Close-up of female character peering behind a curtain - typical scene in horror/thriller films, again linking to the idea of the unknown
• Shadows seen throughout trailer and even across inter titles- creating the impression that people are sneaking around, not wanting to be seen
• Some sections of the trailer are silent - extremely uncomfortable for audiences, as this rarely happens in real life, suggests there is something important on screen
• Crashing and humming sound used in the middle section of the trailer when characters are discovering that people are around the house
• Diegetic screaming - makes audiences feel nervous, displays that something terrific is occurring
• Hammer and knives props - suggestive of violence and murder
• Camera focus is used to distort last shot of close up of the masked antagonist, finalising how they are 'strangers'.
• Title appears in the bottom right of shot