Carrie is a horror film produced by Misher Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Screen Gems. I chose to study this particular trailer as it is a high budget film of $30 million which I can compare to the low budget trailers that I have already studied. I also chose it because it is a horror film which I can take inspiration from when creating my own horror film trailer.
There were 2 Carrie trailers produced, the one I studied being 2 minutes 33 seconds long and made up of approximately 134 shots with very quick cutting in areas. There are 4 main characters in the trailer; Carrie, her mother, her prom date and the 'mean girl' of the film, along with many other characters which only appear quickly such as teachers and other students. However, it is clear that Carrie is the main character as she appears most throughout the trailer and clearly portrays that the film plot surrounds events in her life.
There are approximately 9 settings shown in the trailer; Carrie's house and garden, outside her high school and inside the school corridors, classroom, library, swimming pool & changing room, the prom hall and a street. Although most of these setting surround Carrie's house and school, the trailer still shows a large amount of places within which connotes the film is action-packed and always moving forward.
Throughout the trailer, there is only one music track used, the same as The Gallows horror trailer which I have previously annotated. The music is non-diegetic and begins playing over half way through the trailer at 1:38. The music is calm and slow with a female singing, occasionally pausing to show several quick shots of destruction which contrasting with the atmosphere portrayed by the music. In addition to this, the trailer begins with the mother slowly singing a calm and happy song. It is diegetic with no background music and is not a music track, yet it still contributes to the eerie atmosphere along with the slow camera work leading up to the house which is just as effective.
Non-diegetic sound effects are also added to make the trailer seem more scary and dramatic. For example, screaming, drums, crackling of fire, sirens, buzzing of lights etc and synchronous bangs, crashes and cracks to emphasise something happening on screen and to draw in the demographic.
Overall, there were 14 inter titles in the trailer. They include the name of the main actress "Chloë Grace Moretz" as star power, short sentences that give suggestions to the plot and information on the film, such as "In every neighbourhood there is one family with a secret" and "Based on the acclaimed novel by Stephen King". By telling the audience it is based on a successful book and has well-known actresses helps to build good expectations for the film, encouraging people to watch it.
By studying this high budget horror film trailer I am able to compare it to the low budget horror film trailer of The Gallows that I have already annotated. I found that both trailers used fast pace editing to build suspense although this trailer did it much quicker with a total of 134 shots whereas The Gallows trailer only had 86 shots in a similar amount of time. On the other hand, they are both similar in the fact that they both only use one music track which is unusual yet effective in adding suspense for both horror trailers. By comparing the low budget and high budget trailers I can use the similarities and differences to inspire my own horror trailer and make it look better quality like the high budget trailer.
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