Just like most trailers, this one begins in a normal setting with normal people, living a normal life; it shows a couple in a home at night which makes the audience think this movie could be romance although we soon find out it isn't. Presenting the movie as a romance film before revealing its actually a horror can intrigue a wider range audience because woman are stereotypically more interested in a film if it is about love and not death or the paranormal, whereas men enjoy the adrenaline of being scared. I feel this trailer projects more of a romance theme to it at first because of the ambient lighting and red petals scattered on a bed connote love and passion; the camera pans the petals to show the audience the type of relationship the characters have. Although this is the case, they use a point of view shot as the first shot which adds a more haunting effect as though someone is watching the couple; the non diagetic sound of the piano also helps bring tension to the audience because it is one of the only sounds being played as the trailer begins. The only other sound being played is diagetic and hints that the location of this movie is the country, away from civilisation; the crickets from outside the cabin.
Using dialogue and different shots is a good way to present the characters relationship, in this case the dialogue is effective as the male character says to the female character "You are my girl", which then the female replies "I love you, Jimmy", three different close up shots are used to show the couple hug as this dialogue is being played as bridge sound throughout these shots. The trailer then continues as the pair hear a loud bang which is another sign that the genre of this movie is thriller/horror as there isn't much evidence until this point in the trailer that this movies genre isn't what the audience will first think. There is then a change in background noises coming from outside, what was once before the quietness of cockroaches is now the squeaks of a swing which we are shown a few seconds later to reveal that there is no one there - conforming to the genre of this movie.
Mundane realism is used to help the audience relate to the characters and plot; by basing the location in a regular home will make the viewers feel more sympathy for the protagonists as they have more in common. The clothing used also shows the class of the characters - working/middle class, statistics have shown that these classes are most likely to go to the theatre to watch a horror movie making it easier for the audience to relate.
The text and font used in this trailer adds to the effects of the movie genre being a horror because it almost looks as though their are shadows over laying the words, making it harder to read but creating more enigmas as it makes the over all movie more unclear. The first text we read on the screen is "based on true events", this will appeal to horror movie fans as they enjoy being scared; mentioning this movie is based on true events will leave them feeling on edge as they know it has already happened in reality.
We first see the antagonist in the background of one of the protagonists 54 seconds into the trailer, not introducing any of the characters properly creates enigmas which would make the audience want to go and see the movie. This long shot lasts around 9 seconds which builds tension in the audience, using longer pace shots is an effective way to scare the audience and make them feel something will happen even if it doesn't because of the way horror movies conform to the stereotypical views. At the point we first see the antagonist we are roughly half way through the trailer which is when we usually get a glimpse on the negative side of the movie being promoted even if the genre isn't horror, the transition that fades the clip into darkness represents this as it, as well as the sudden non diabetic sound making this sequence of clips effective as it gradually tells more of the plot. The transitions have been changed as we are shown the more disturbing side of this movie; whilst we were being shown the shots of the rose petals on the bed, woman in the bath and candles the transitions were simply fading into the next shot but later on they change to be faded into darkness then to the next shot which creates an effect on the audience watching.
The pace of shots rapidly speed up as the gets closer to the end of the trailer, as well as the music getting louder with the broken record player repeating its self making the viewing experience haunting and in some ways disturbing for the audience. We are then finally shown a medium shot of the three antagonists for a brief second which creates an enigma as we hardly have time to take in that they look like, a question is then asked from the protagonist - "Why are you doing this to us?" which then gets a chilling reply of "because you were home", this dialogue is relatable to anyone in the audience as they can be home at any time just like the normal couple were, again helping them relate to the protagonists, leaving the audience feel on edge and leaving the trailer at a cliff hanger.
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