The Strangers Teaser Trailer Analysis

It starts of showing the companies which distributed the film which are rogue pictures and intrepid pictures. As they come on to the screen, it sounds like an old piece of film equipment is being used as it makes a shutter noise. Then there is old music playing as different images of houses are shown and writing underneath them.

These images show that the film is going to be about a house. The genre of the film is not clear at the beginning of the trailer as it has not got scary music playing and the audience have not seen any clips from the film yet.

However, after this last image, the music turns creepy as more images are shown and there is a sudden change in the atmosphere:

The genre of the film is then established as the pictures turn from nice houses to pictures of houses with red crosses over them, which connotates death, danger and blood. The writing underneath the pictures is effective as it leaves the audience wondering what the reason is. The music gets louder on the last image and then stops. It then gets quite low and there is an establishing shot of a big house at night, which is a convention of a horror film. It then fades to black and the next shot is of a man lighting a candle in the house then of a woman looking in the mirror. Then there are four close ups of the man and a woman hugging each other. This establishes the characters and shows that they are in a relationship. Following this, there is a medium shot of the characters, and there is a loud knock at the door. This would make the audience feel on edge as the characters look shocked and it is "four in the morning". The next shot is a close up of the door and the music starts to get creepier, showing that there is something wrong. It fades to black and there is a close up of the woman standing behind the door, then of the man, then back to the woman again. This is effective because it shows their emotions, showing that they are scared. As the woman puts her head closer to the door, there is a voice of a woman whispering "you're gonna die". This creates suspense as the killer in horror films is not usually a woman, therefore this film challenges the typical codes and conventions of a horror film.

The next shot is a close up of an axe cutting through the the wooden floor, then a point of view shot of the two main characters backing away from the camera, placing the audience in the film. This is followed by four extremely quick takes of still images which are close ups of the man and the woman screaming and blood splashed up the wall. This fast pace makes the audience feel fear as they do not know what images are going to flash up on to the screen next. As each image is shown, the same shutter noise is used from the beginning of the trailer. Also, they are smaller than the moving footage, emphasises that they are still images. Then it stops on a point of view, frame shot of a man standing in the distance wearing a mask. He is framed by a smashed window. In the next shot it is revealed who's point of view it was from, as there is a medium shot of the man in a car jumping back and holding a knife. This emphasises his vulnerability as he has got nowhere to go. Also at this point there is a loud scream in the background.

The next four shots are images of more close ups to show expression which flash on to the screen, then it stops on a close up of someone holding a knife. This is followed by a medium shot of the girl trying to hide, with the same screaming in the background. Then there is another four images of more close ups of the main characters and the word "Killer" is shown twice, which is closer the second time and is written on a mirror. It is written in red which could be blood and it stands out from the rest of the images as it is shown twice to make sure the audience see it. The camera then stops on a body, however we can not see his face so we do not know who it is.

The next shot is a close up of the man sitting in the corner and the screaming noise is in the background again. The next four still images are also of the man and the woman. Then it ends on the man, with the killer standing behind him with an axe. This is followed by another scream and a shot from behind a cupboard with the killer coming towards it, suggesting that someone is trying to hide. This also shows that there may be more than one killer as it is wearing a different mask than before.

The final six images are more of the killers as there are shots of them wearing the masks. Throughout the trailer, dark lighting is used, however there is a flash of bright light, which is of a woman wearing a mask. This stands out from the rest of the pictures making the audience remember this particular image.

Finally, this shot reveals that there are three killers which include two women and a man. However their identity is not shown, which persuades the audience to go and see the film at the cinema to find out who they are and why they are doing it. The music then stops as the title of the film is shown, then the camera is placed on the floor and the woman is crawling towards it on the floor. This is effective as there is no music playing which makes it sinister and this image is left in the audience's heads.

Overall, this trailer is 1minute and 16 seconds long which is a conventional time for a teaser trailer. There is roughly 50 shots in this trailer.