The Ring - Theatrical Trailer analysis

The first shot in this trailer is of the iconic ring that symbolises this film, the black contrasting against the white shows freedom from something dark and haunting. The dialogue is used a bridge sound as soon as the trailer begins, it is of one of the characters explaining the basic plot of the film - "Theres this video tape that kills you when you watch it, you start to play it; its like somebody's nightmare and as soon as its over your phone rings and what they say is, you will die in seven days". Conventions of the genre is being shown as the girl explaining the plot is a teenager that ends up rebelling by watching the tape, resulting in being the first to die, the audience wouldn't have much sympathy for this character as she is presented as a typical teenager which stereotypically people see as annoying and idiotic. 

Sounds and music sets in as the ring appears on screen which means it creates effect straight away, this non diegetic sound turns into music 27 seconds into the trailer, the sinister piano and violin playing would appeal to horror movie fans as they would feel intrigued to go and watch the new film in cinemas, this target audience is usually young males aged around 17-25 because they are known to enjoy being scared and feeling that adrenaline. Die hard horror fans would also want to see this film as it is a remake of the Japanese version created in 1998 called 'Ring'; the horror fans would want to see if it is up to the expectations that they have and to see if it is better or worse than the original. Another unique selling point is the actress Naomi Watts because she is very successful in other movies such as King Kong, although The Ring was created before King Kong, she would still be a unique selling point to the young male target audience, her character also subverts the stereotypical blonde woman in a horror movie because they are usually portrayed as weak and innocent which is what she is presented as but her personality and courage says differently; the blonde hair would be a connotation for vulnerability and unintelligent. 

The child in the movie is also a convention of this genre because he is shown as an important person to the protagonist and is in a way possessed by them by sending messages that relate to whats going on for example, the creepy drawings shown 1 minute 14 seconds into the trailer to which it then goes onto a medium shot of the little boy drawing these images. Although there are reasons why the audience will think the relationship between the little boy and female role are mother and son, the boy addresses her by her first name (Rachel) which would create enigmas for the audience because they would wonder why their relationship isn't presented in a strong, obvious way. 

Ending the trailer in a way which will leave the audience on edge is a way of keeping them interested especially if they are a fan of horror movies; a close up of Rachel screaming but covering the diegetic sound with a non diegetic sound leaves a haunting effect and is the climax of the entire trailer as it builds up over time making the shots of the tape and parts of the film faster paste to build up suspense for this moment, this also makes the audience feel like they can relate to the characters more because they are also watching parts of the tape creating a connection between them. Some of these shots are of the lead characters going through things you wouldn't expect to happen to them such as Rachel  The shots at the beginning are slow paste to make the audience feel as though something will jump out at them unknowingly but also so they can learn more about the story and plot.