The Gallows Trailer Annotation

The Gallows is a horror film, coming out on July 10th 2015. It had a low budget of just $15,000, produced by New Line Cinema, Blumhouse Productions, Management 360 and Tremendum Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures. We will later be creating our own horror film trailers so we annotated this particular trailer because it is horror and therefore we may be able to take inspiration from it, especially as it is low budget.

There are several different trailers for The Gallows, the one I studied being 2 minutes 18 seconds long. Overall, it is made up of approximately 86 shots with quick cuts between each which builds the suspense, typical of a horror film. A wide range of camera shots such as close ups and aerial shots also helps build the audience' interest as it emphasises the speed and makes it seem full of action, rather than dull to draw them in.

There are only a few characters in the trailer; 3 teenagers, 3 policemen and the spirit who we barely see at all yet is portrayed as the most important character in the film. We know this as the trailer informs us of the plot which revolves around the spirit being discovered by the teenagers. By revealing the plot it lets people form a judgement of whether they would enjoy the film or not. The trailer suggests one narrative and doesn't inform us of any sub-plots that take place throughout the film.

A cover of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana is the only music track played in the trailer which is rare as there are usually at least two, however the well-known song helps it to be noticed. The music is non-diegetic and cuts and pauses several times to build suspense and emphasis on other important sounds such as loud bangs. The music begins at a slow pace and gets faster throughout before fading away at the end, to build suspense which is especially important when advertising horror as this is what the audience wants. Synchronous, non-diegetic sounds effects such as bangs, drums, clattering of locker doors, screams, creaks, shattering glass etc are used throughout the trailer to add to the tension and scary atmosphere which the film wants to convey to the audience.

There are 6 different settings in The Gallows trailer; the school hallway, theatre stage and backstage area, school hall, town streets and outside of the high school. From this we can presume that most of the film is set in and around the teenager's school but is kept action packed from the amount of different settings within it.

Inter titles in the trailer show reviews of the film and the names of other popular horror films created by the same makers of this film. This draws in an audience as it helps build good expectations for the film due to these previous successes and positive reviews.