Horror Trailer Analysis: Sinister

This trailer used 11 extreme close ups, 19 close ups, 46 medium shots, 6 long shots and  no extreme long shots. 

This trailer begins by showing a house during the night with a voice over about a family whom had been murdered. The voice over while a house is being showed makes it clear that these particular murders happened in the house been shown. This further indicates that this house is where the film will be set. The trailer continues by showing a child's drawing of a group of people being hung, this indicates that a child will play a huge role in this film, and could possibly be the killer. One member of the group is named 'dad' showing the audience that the child killer was a member of the family in the drawing that died. 

The next sequence follows the text '9 months later' and shows the same house, however this time the house is shown in daylight with a home removals truck outside. This suggests that there will be a new family that will reside in this property. However, it is made clear through a young girl saying 'I didn't want to move here' and a man saying 'we couldn't afford to live in the old house' that the decision to move was not one that the family wanted but one that had to happen.

It is then made clear of the man's occupation, a story writer. The audience start to presume that the man was not doing well in his occupation and that is why the family had to move. Once the characters had been established, the reason they were there and a section on the past the trailer begins to move into what will be the main focus of the film. 

The horror section of the trailer begins when the man goes up into the attic and sees a single box. It is clear to the audience that the man should not open this box as the lighting is dark and eerie music being to play in the background. However, the man does open the box and begins to watch the previous families home videos, ending in footage of a hanging. The police are then informed. 

The rest of the trailer continues the build up of horror and shows the family begin to be tortured by 'Stephanie'. Throughout the trailer the man researches into his findings which puts his family in great danger. The tension is built up more and more until the end of the trailer, as trailers do not show the outcome just the build up. The trailer ends with the face of 'Sinister' and the man being unable to escape, this will attract the audiences attention and make them want to find out if the man escaped and how he did.