The trailer for the horror movie "A Night In The Woods" introduces three young adult characters who go camping in the English countryside. Strange events begin to occur as tensions rise between the characters. It becomes clear something paranormal is haunting the woods as the characters' night turns to terror. The trailer uses conventions of the horror genre like isolated settings, young vulnerable characters, and paranormal elements to set expectations and draw comparisons to successful horror films like "The Blair Witch Project." It effectively promotes the film and engages audiences through its use of filming techniques, sounds, and mystery.

1. A Night In The Woods
Trailer Analysis

3. A night in the woods is a horror movie produced by Vertigo Films. The
trailer shows three young people (early 20), Brody, his girlfriend Kerry and
her friend Leo, who go to the English countryside for a camping trip. They
camp in Dartmoor's Wistman's Woods, which has an infamous past
related to Witches. But after the first few hours there is tension and trust
issues because of everyone's past. It all comes to a head when paranormal
things start to happen around them. There is something going on in the
woods, and their night turns from adventure to terror, It is all caught on
video tape and shown in a documented format similar to the ‘’Blair Witch
Project’’

4. A night in the woods Codes and conventions
The Night in The Woods trailer shows the
tell tale signs of a horror movie by Same age as the characters Primary target audience –
incorporating the key codes and male/ female 15-30
conventions for a horror into their trailer, Certificate 15 15 or 18 Certification
these are shown through out the trailer
allowing the audience to identify the Three main characters Three act narrative structure
genre easily. These conventions are very (relationship between two)
important in a production trailer as they Set on the Dartmoor mores/ Isolated location
allow the audience to identify the genre woods
quickly and easily as well as Characters are killed Murders
understanding the narrative for the film all
in a short space of time. Female victim (Kerry) Female victim
Paranormal/ haunting Distorted diegetic sound
Typical vulnerable sounds
female victim Characters scream Screams
The ‘’huntsman’’ Paranormal being/ force
present
All three aged young 20s Young/teenage characters
All of the film is filmed on a Use of hand-held camera
hand held cameras gives the audience the
Camping in an identification of realism
isolated location,
group of young A lot of point of view shots Point of view shots
adults are use (handheld camera)
You see blood on one of the Uses of Gratifications
characters face

5. The ‘’Night In The Woods’’ trailer runs for 2 minuets and 18
seconds which is similar to a lot off horror trailers which run
between the 2 – 2.25 mark. Although some of the better rated
trailers such as the Blair Witch project and Paranormal Activity
4 run for less than two minuets giving less information about
the narrative but creating more fear and a larger code of
enigma by condensing quick short clips of the film into a small
space of time. There are a total of 79 different shots used in
the trailer which are all filmed from a hand held camera. The
producers use different transitions through out the trailer to edit
the shots together. Fade to black is used a lot to as wells as
the camera distortion/ cutting out.

6. The Night In The Woods trailer shows three young adults aged in their
early 20s Brody, Kerry (his girlfriend) and her cousin Leo, who go to the
English countryside for a camping trip on the Dartmoor mores we are
introduced to them at the start of the trailer where it is made clear that
Brody and Kerry are in a relationship as we see them kiss. They pick up
Kerry's cousin Leo and set of on their trip. From the start it seems that
all three characters have a positive relationship and get on fine until
Brody notices that Kerry is acting strangely to the point the her and Leo
become very close. These type characters are stereotypical for a horror
movie as there is often seen a young group with a relationship between
two of the members and at least one female who is targeted as a victim.
The character group is very similar to the Blair Witch Project where
three student film makers disappear in a forest while investigating a
paranormal legend the Blair Witch.
Blair Witch A Night In The Woods
Very similar
characters/ cast

7. Both diegetic and non diegetic sounds are used throughout the
trailer to inform and connect to the viewer. It is very important to
use both diegetic and non diegetic sounds in a trailer as it allows
the audience to connect, experience and understand the narrative
in more detail. But it is important to get the right balance of diegetic
and non-diegetic otherwise the trailer losses its quality for example
if there is one continues background song through the whole trailer.
In the trailer ‘’A Night In The woods’’ all the expected horror sounds
are used such as screams, shouts, crying, distraught and
disturbing noises etc. are heard. These are all diegetic sounds
which are very important as they represent and emphasise the
horror of the film. I thought that the film trailer used the special
sound and camera effect of the camera static very cleverly as it
brakes the trailer up creating a stop start effect so that the viewer
can not focus on the paranormal force etc. it also gives the idea
that there is something messing with the camera causing it to
happen. At the start of trailer there is a non-diegetic upbeat
acoustic folk song to set the idea up of a group adventure . At 40
seconds the song changes to a darker acoustic song which sets
the expectations for the horror which is to follow creating suspense
for the audience.

8. From the trailer the audience learns that three young adults
Brody, Leo and Kerry are traveling to the Dartmoor mores for a
camping trip, but as there trip goes on tensions arise between
all three and Leo and Kerry become very close to the point
where they sleep together . The trio visit a local pub where
they are waned about the woods but still they continue and set
up camp in Whitman's woods where they are hunted by the so
called ‘’huntsman’’. From the trailer the audience can gather a
lot of information about the narrative of the story which
compares very similar to the Blair Witch Project. The trailer
creates a code of enigma because the audience do not find out
what happens to the three main characters for example we are
left with questions such as ‘’do they survive?’’ and ‘’what is
hunting them?’’

9. Through out the trailer the audience are informed about the back story and other extra
information through intertitles. These intertitles all use the same theme and font -
white writing black background to create a constant professional look throughout the
trailer. Some of the titles have special effects edited over them similar to the static on
the camera keeping the idea that there is a paranormal force at work.
The same theme and style is used through out the trailer

10. From the start to the finish the trailer builds the expectations and the
idea that the film is a classic horror/ ghost story where a group of young
adults enter the woods and are killed by some sort of paranormal
creature. Even though we do not see any one be murdered in the trailer
it sets up our expectations that they will all die at some point in the film.
Any one who has seen The Blair Witch Project will see a definite
rebalance between the two films/trailers.
Very similar shots of the female character being chased both used in
the Blair witch and night in the woods trailers

11. The whole film is filmed on a hand held camera giving the
viewer a sense of realism. A variety of shots are used
throughout the trailer although all of them are viewed as a point
of view shot as it is filmed through a hand held camera. This is
not the first film to be filmed through a hand held camera, many
other successful films have such as Cloverfeild, Grave
Encounters and The Blair Witch Project.
These are some of
examples of the kind of
shots used in the trailer
all of them are point of
view shots from the
person with the camera

12. Vertigo Films has used a film trailer to promote its feature film ‘’A Night
In The Woods’’ because it is the most effective way of engaging the
target audiences and getting them from their couches and into the
cinema. Although they also use other marketing strategies such as
posters and articles in the magazine. I personally think that this trailer
targets the audience well as the audience can relate to the characters
and their back stories, although the film is very similar to the Blair
Witch Project which was extremely successful and would be hard to
top meaning some of the target audience wouldn’t go because they
would feel like they may have already seen the film.
A well made film trailer now a days is an extremely successful
promotional device as this is what makes the majority of public want
go to the cinema. If the audience can engage with the trailer and it
makes an emotionally link they are much more likely to go for example
if a comedy trailer makes you laugh it will make you want to go and
see the movie.