1. Silent House
by Garin Price

2. Genre
The genre of this film is horror/
psychological thriller. The audience is able
to identify this due to the props used (e.g.
knives) and the various emphasised
sound effects. We cannot evidently see
who the killer is in this trailer. This does
make the audience wonder if it is a
psychological thriller. Although not
revealing the killer does create a code of
enigma.

3. Target Audience
The target audience for this film is for 50 % males and
50% females between the age of 15-30 years old. The
trailer targets an audience by having a female as the
main character, this attracts more females to watch the
film as females are not stereotyped to watching horror
films. As the genre is horror, they are trying to encourage
couples to go to the cinema to watch the film.
I think that it is successful in targeting an audience
because the main characters are that father and Sophie,
so the mixed gendered main characters will widen the
target audience. The audience can also relate to the
characters and feel like they have been in a house
where everything is haunted and they start to feel
parranoyed.

4. Silent House
This film trailer lasts 2 minutes 36
seconds. There are 92 shots in the trailer.
There are many transitions used
throughout the trailer, the main transitions
used are fade to black and a flash of
white, almost like a camera had just taken
a picture.

5. Diegetic Sound
• Diegetic sound is not used that much in
this trailer, it is used mainly at the start of
the trailer to represent the characters and
their relationships. E.g. at the start of the
trailer we find out that Sarah and her dad
have a close relationship in the film as
they the dad calls Sarah ‘sweetie’.
Halfway through the trailer she says
‘daddy, what have they done to you?’
when he is lay flat on the floor, this shows
her concern for her father emphasising
that their relationship is strong.

6. Non diegetic sound
The trailer mainly consists of non-diegetic sounds. At the start
of the trailer we get a voiceover for all of the titles used, these
titles communicate with the audience by guiding the audience
into the storyline and to emphasise the severity of the event
by using key titles such as ‘The silence.. WILL KILL YOU’.
The voiceover does this by saying ‘one of the most shocking
and twisted event ever recorded’. This gets the audience’s
attention instantly.
There is non-diegetic music used in this trailer, it is used to
increase the intensity of the trailer. For example in the trailer
from 1:29-1:37 there is an increase in intensity of the music t
grab the audience’s attention and create a code of enigma so
we wonder what is going to happen to Sophie.
Throughout the trailer we get many different sound effects
which get the audience on the edge of their seats by
increasing the tension of the trailer. It does this by using
effects such as camera flashes, emphasised door slams and
footsteps to increase the tension of the audience.

7. Silent House
From the trailer we get an understanding of the film where it reveals
parts of the plot, and an idea of the main characters which all add
up to the narrative of the film. Sophie and her dad move back into a
house which they lived in when they were younger. They have an
ordeal with an unknown killer which is haunting them for 88 minutes.
It seems like throughout the trailer she is being followed by
someone who is taking photos of her, following her every footstep, it
seems like they are trying to get inside Sophie’s head by making
noises around the house. There is a slam of a door then all escape
routes to the house become locked, there is no way out for Sophie.
She then bumps into her father to find him dead on the floor. After
this Sophie then goes looking around the house for ways to escape
and get help. We then see the killer/ person who is haunting her,
they have no features which we can identify, leaving us a mystery at
who it is and why they are there. A chase then encounters
throughout the house with this figure and Sophie. Sophie finds an
escape route by opening a door, we see a reflection of a different
killer/ spirit, she then looks at the photos on the desk and seems to
be mortified by them and doesn’t look completely sane not
understanding why it is happening.

8. Camera shots and Angles
In this trailer each shot is filmed handheld, even the
opening establishing shot at night which is most
commonly used in horror trailers where it gives the
audience a dark feeling and a sense of location so
they know where this ‘ordeal’ is going to take place.
Another shot which is commonly used in horror
trailers is the point of view shot of the killer, it is done
on a handheld camera chase scene, where the
camera will follow the main character running,
almost as if we the audience are seeing everything
as the killers point of view.
Another shot which is also commonly used in horror
trailers is the over the shoulder shot of the main
characters attempting to open a door to escape, this
makes the audience more tense as they don’t know
what is going to happen after this moment.

9. Silent House
This trailer sets up the mood and expectations and the idea of a
psychological thriller / horror where a woman has moved into her old
home and is being haunted by someone or something paranormal, we
presume it is paranormal as we don’t ever see the killer in detail. As an
audience we don’t know why or what is haunting Sophie but we are
expecting something to happen to Sophie, but we don’t know weather
she wills survive or not.
Film trailers are very effective as a promotional device for films
because it is easily accessible as it can be found online or on
televisions through commercial breaks. The film studio has used the
trailer to market its product as it is very easy to advertise by being
found online and TV commercials. Social networking will also help
promote this trailer as YouTube videos can be shared onto social
networking sites and promoted on there by a word of mouth process.

10. Codes and Conventions
The film trailer ‘Silent House’ shows some key codes and conventions
which are very similar to other horror/ psychological thriller films out in
the market. It goes against some stereotypes of normal horror films, but
also goes along with others. Silent House does go along with a
psychological thriller stereotype by having the female as a main
character with emphasised screams being used to make the audience
feel scared for her if they were in her situation. Having an age range of
characters around 18-35 years old which is roughly the age of the target
audience. The film is set in a massive haunted house which is very
stereotypical of psychological thriller films.
Although this film does go against the stereotype of having a hand held
camera being used throughout the film, this makes the audience feel a
sense of realism, almost like a documentary for the audience to watch.