Scream 4 Trailer Analysis

Trailers are made to entice and intrigue the audience into wanting to go and see the film. They are made up for shots and scenes from the film to portray the film in a different order so the full narrative is not revealed but leaves the audience wanting more. Scream 4 is a part of the scream franchise and typically follows the structure that all the other scream films use, beginning with a phone call, a starting murder, lots of other death action shots and end with a jump scare.

The trailer first begins with an inter-title which opens the trailer with ‘In The Beginning’ referring either to the other Scream films implying that this film will somehow relate in someway or another to the previous scream films. The opening inter-title begins with the phone ringing just like it did in the first scream trailer the phone continues ringing and the music then starts playing. A clip appears zoomed in on what looks like the original phone that is ringing, another inter-title appears with ‘One Call Started It All’ referring to the original scream film that was released in 1996. Then dialogue begins with a voice over of the man who calls the victim and asks them “What’s your favourite scary movie?”. Having these first couple of clips and the voice over quickly reminds the audience of the original films and that this film will somehow relate to the other scream films. This also targets not only new people who may not have seen any of the scream franchise but also the original fan base who followed and watched the scream films. A short clips shows the killer in the scream mask running at the camera then the screen goes black and another inter-title comes up with ‘Dimension Films’.

The trailer then begins with an equilibrium where a guy with a camera is asking people their favourite scary movie and talks about it being the anniversary. There is music playing and dialogue within the scene another shot appears with the main girls in their bedrooms on the phone saying “What’s your favourite scary movie?” in creepy voices whilst laughing. This is implying they are taking the micky out of the original man who said it. Another inter-title appears with ‘Now A New Generation’ the music begins to get louder with the sheriff of the town saying “One generations tragedy is the next one’s joke.” Implying that this generation at present is making jokes out of the killings that happened previously. The guy with the camera continues to appear throughout the trailer which must also mean he is a main character in the film.  When asking students “What’s your favourite scary movie?” they all take it as a joke and reply with a stupid response. Proving that they don’t take the anniversary serious enough and do not seem to care.

The music dramatically changes and becomes creepy, the equilibrium is about to change due to the arrival of one o the original victim comes back to her home town. Another inter-title appears with ‘Is About To Meet implying that the new generation is going to suffer because of this. This gets the audience more focused and entices them to want to see what is going t happen within the film. The trailer shows a new report reporting in the story of one of the original victim coming back on the anniversary week of the killings. An inter-title appears with ‘A Ghost From The Past’ the camera shows a couple of shots of Sidney on the phone talking to the original voice basically stating that now she is back she has to watch the events unfold before her. The trailer then goes on to show two of the girls who are main characters answering the phone which they both think it’s a joke but eventually the killer comes to get them. It shows various short shots and clips of the girls, the killer and the girls being corned by the killer.

The next inter-title ‘From Master Of Suspense Wes Craven’ tells the audience who is directing the film. Wes Craven also directed A Nightmare on Elm Street and the original Scream movie. This implies that the film will be just as good as the first because the directed knowns how to capture and portray the killer from the first film. By having Wes Craven direct Scream 4 this also will attract the fan base of his to go and see the film as well as the fan base for the Scream franchise as well. The next clip is of the sheriff being made aware that everything that has happened is available online so there is nothing that the public don’t know. Then there is another scene where the killer is show with the mask on and is about to kill another victim who we have not seen before meaning that she could most likely to be another main character in the film. There is a brief shot of “What’s your favourite scary movie?” painted on a door what looks like is blood from a victim.

The original survivor then discovers that the killer is killing people after the original movie ‘Stab’ which is then shown a shot of the film ‘Stab’ in the cinema. The music then stops and the girl in the middle of the clips says “It’s time for someone new to die” this could be meant literally or as in the social way ‘die a social death’ either way the line leaves the audience hanging with the phrase question why she said that. The music then changes and becomes more darkening and a quick shot of someone screaming whilst the killer is in front of her.

Another inter-title appears with ‘Someone Is Re-Inventing The Game’ implying the killer is changing ‘the game’ this will make the audience want to see the film because they want to know what and how the killer is changing the game from last time. The next few clips are of the people who were asking “What’s your favourite scary movie?” at the beginning of the trailer explaining that the rules have changed such as innocent virgins can die just as well as the not so innocent girls who have had sex. One of the guys also says ‘the unexpected is the new cliché’ meaning that everybody could be killed and no one survives which is not a convention in horror narratives as someone always survives and is normally the innocent virgin girl. The next clip is of the main blonde girl making a point that comes across as a joke, this could be seen as dark humour which may attract other people how have that sense of humour.

The next inter-title appears with ‘Someone Is Re-Creating The Terror’ this is to tell the audience that the killer is re-creating the terror that happened all those years ago. The voice over then goes on to explain the ‘new rules of the game’ that the killer films the deaths from a video camera somewhere in the room. The clip then shows on of the women finding the camera and the killer appearing behind her. These clips are left on a cliff hanger making the audience wonder is the woman was murdered or not. The camera changes to the two guys at the beginning on the trailer then explaining that not to involve the guy who has been filming people answering the question “What’s your favourite scary movie?”.

The last inter-title comes up with ‘Someone Is Re-Writing The Rules’ this is then followed by more up-beat music and fast shots and clips. The guys appear again saying they can’t kill Sidney, who was the survivor in the original scream movie but then the girl states that they can because she is ‘expendable’ this means that not only is there a different killer but they can kill anyone. So the audience who would of rooted for Sidney to not be killed in the first one would be rooting for her again and therefore this would attract more people to go and see the film. Also if Sidney is the ideal person to kill they guy says she’ll be ‘third act main cast blood bath’ a lot of clips of Sidney on the phone and running from the killer.

The clips begin to get faster and shorter with the police trying to catch the killer and the victims on the phone to the killer having to answer questions which is also different from the other screams as they are being tested on their knowledge of horror films. If answered wrong they supposedly die. These clips are implying lots of action within the film and lots of violence with the music getting louder and quicker as well. This will make the audience want to see the film because the trailer shows that it will be an action packed film.

The music then stop and the scene slows down with two police officers in the police car where one says “Be right back” then “I know you’re not suppose to say that”. The music starts again louder and the scene changes to crowd of people screaming, then a body dropping from a roof onto a car and then all the girl main characters appear individually screaming in very quick shots. Then ‘Scream 4’ appears in white bold text on a black background. This will entice the audience and possibly put fear into the audience and make them want to see the film.

The last part of a horror trailer tends to be a jump scare and in this trailer particularly is a dark humour jump scare. The one of the police men is pretending to be dead and makes the other police man jump. Ironically the killer then jumps out from the shrubbery and goes to stab the police man who jumped then the scene cuts to the release date of the film appearing ‘4.15.11’.