The Ward Trailer Analysis

Trailers are designed and created to advertise and promote new and up coming films. Trailers are made up of clips from the film to entice the target audience and leave them wanting more.
The trailer starts with the main character running through the woods to a builds which she then set on fire, this is an event that will grab the viewers from the beginning. The opening scene has a mixture of dialogue which introduces the central character. The voice over is of a man asking “What’s the first thing you remember?” and a girl’s voice (who we assume is the one who is running through the woods) replying “fire”. This dialogue talks about the ‘enigma’ an event which occurred that created the path the main character is on. The dialogue leaves us wanting to find out about the event such where, why, how etc. The soundtrack begins when the inter-titles appear at the beginning of the trailer. Most horror trailers follow convention and use short shots to catch the audiences attention rather than just continuous film footage which would become boring after a period.

After the inter-titles the trailer begins with more short shots but are more slow paced then the ones at the beginning, along with the music that started playing when the inter-titles began. These scenes show what roughly the narrative is going to be about without giving too much of it away. The clips show the location of the story where the majority, if not all of the film will be based in a mental institute. The trailer continues with more calm clips from the mental institute with dialogue within the scenes. The scenes then slow down onto the shower scene with a voice over warning the main character. Having a shower scene implies that the film is following the typical conventions of a horror film with the main character in the shower appearing vulnerable and powerless. Another inter-title appears displaying the direct, John Carpenter who has directed the Halloween franchise as well as lots of other horror films. After the single inter-title the music begins to speed up as well as the clips becoming more shorter then before, which will entice the audience to keep watching. The trailer reveals that there is a ‘ghost’ within the mental institute. Another inter-title cuts up the clips stating ‘Director of Halloween’ this is so that the audience can associate the director to another film he directed. This will widen the target audience from not just John Carpenter followers but also Halloween follows.

The trailer continues to pick up pace with the music becoming louder and more fast paced as well as the clips from the film becoming short and fast showing the character trying to escape the ‘ghost’ as well as the staff who are trying to control the patients. Various inter-titles appear with the phrases ‘This January’, ‘Experience Terror’ and ‘From The Master’ meaning John Carpenter who clearly has a big influence within the film. The clips continue with lots of running, screaming, violence and fast moving shots showing the audience the torture and terror that features in the film.
The final inter-title appears after all the short dramatic clips have finished slowing the trailer down with ‘John Carpenter’s The Ward’. This appears towards the end of the trailer to make sure the audience remember the name of the film and can associate it with the director of the film. The last clip of the film after the inter-title is from the shower scene again where the main character is grabbed round her neck by the ‘ghost’. Having this short scene as the last part of the trailer leaves the audience wanting more and as a last jump scare. At the end the of the trailer the billing block appears leaving the audience wanting more and want to see the film in the cinema.