The trailer starts of with documentary style footage of the paranormal investigators searching the house. Low Key lighting is used and it is very dark. The low key lighting add mystery and makes it intense as we cannot see everything, just the thing/person the spotlight is on. This tells us that it is set at night, like a typical horror movie. The fact that it is set at night gives it a scary feeling as that's when all the scary stuff come out. The documentary style footage that is used makes it realistic and believable, almost like it can happen to anyone. We, the audience, know that they are investigating paranormal behaviour as Patrick Wilson's character is saying "Give us a sign if you wanna communicate with us." This line is asked by parnormal investigators when they are investigating in modern documentary's so the audience knows.
Ambient sound is used during the first, documentary style bit. In the screen shot above it shows the investigator turning around as he heard a noise in the empty room he had just checked. This add to realism and makes it quite scary as it is ambient. This makes the audience think that there is something paranormal there as we were just shown that the room was empty and there was nothing there. This is a good thing to use as it is quite unique to other horror trailers as it doesn't just start with a long shot of the setting, with cheery music. it tells the audience that it is scary from the start and intrigues them, as they will be asking questions like "what is going on?", seeing as they don't really have much knowledge of the narrative yet. Children laughing very quietly is the sound we can hear and this can be very scary to the audience as there isn't any children in the cellar.
After the documentary style footage, it changes to normal camera work and shows a lecture room full of people and the paranormal investigators introducing themselves. High key lighting is used (realism). The shot after that is a black screen saying "Based on the true story of the Warrens". Many horror movie trailers use this as it adds realism and scares people as they think it it a real thing and can happen to anyone. The main paranormal investigators are introduced to let the audience know who they are. The text also explain the narrative of the film. If members have already read around the film they would know that the paranormal investigators are real life people and the film is based on one of their real investigations.
A series of black and white images are shown, these images are supposedly images from the cases that the Warrens' had investigated. they add to the realism as the audience now know that the Warrens' are real people. After a few images the text "Out of the thousand cases they investigated" is shown on a black screen, then a few more images are shown then the text "This one is so disturbing, They've kept it locked away". This adds to the realism and creepiness of the narrative as it is shown as a real thing. It is compared to a thousand other paranormal cases and is the scariest one. This makes the audience want to watch the film as they expect to be scared by it seeing as it is so "disturbing". Whilst the images are on the screen there is quite cheerful music being played. This contrasts with the narrative and the ambient sound at the beginning of the trailer. This is used for effect as it changes from cheery to sinister and creepy, this adds to the shock factor of the trailer. Many horror trailers use this as they use the shock factor a lot as it is more effective then just having the "scary" scenes the whole way through the trailer. At this point the audience still don't know much about the narrative apart from the fact the the Warrens' are investigating a paranormal case. However they are intrigued seeing as "this one is so disturbing". This makes the audience want to know why it is "so disturbing".
A woman is introduced to the Warrens, and from her facial expressions we can tell that she is scared and worried. As we were introduced to the Warren's earlier on, we know they are paranormal investigator and the woman has come to them because of this. After the shot of the woman the words "Until now" come up. This is the rest of the sentence of "This one is so disturbing they've kept it locked away, until now." The camera then cuts to a different setting outside, it is dark and foggy and shows a tree, it then shows a clock and a picture of a family. "There's something horrible happening in my house." is said by the woman who has gone to the paranormal investigators, meanwhile at the same time that non diegetic cheery music is still being played. This gives the idea to the audience that the film is about a haunted house, which follows the conventions of a classic horror film.
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Eerie music is used when the words "from the directors of Saw and Insidious " comes up on the screen. Both the films are popular and highly regarded so people who are fans of the two films will want to watch it to see if it is as good as the other two. The title's of the two films are also in Larger font then the rest of the writing so it can stand out to the audience.
The next few shots show the house in daylight from a extreme long shot, to set the scene, the warren's recording an interview and them meeting the children. In the background we can hear Ed Warren's voice conducting an interview stating the date "November 1st 1971" and "I am sitting here with Caroline Perron who with her family has been experiences paranormal occurences". The fact that it isn't set in the 21st century may appeal to certain audience's who like films from that period in time. It is also a bit different to the conventions of a horror film as they are usually just set when the film is made. This may appeal to people as it is a bit different to the usual horror film. The woman who went to the Warren's is also introduced as "Caroline Perron".
The next few shots are about Lorraine Warren, who from the looks of things can see supernatural things that other people cannot. It starts of with Ed asking her if she's picking anything up. Then it moves to outside when she says "Something awful happened here We are then shown some rotting feet hanging down, with diegetic sound of a hanging. Ed then asks "What is it?". This tells us that she sees things and he doesn't. Even though the feet hanging is right behind he cannot see it, however she can. It then shows us her falling into his arms. It then goes back to Ed Warren doing a voice over saying "Whatever Lorraine sees, feels, touches, takes a toll on her." This reassures the audience that it is only her who can see the supernatural things, it also makes the audience wander if anything will happen to her. It also shows her looking at a hanging rope, which links to the scene where she sees the feet hanging from the tree.
The next shot shows a little girl sleep walking and banging her head on the wall, it then cuts to Lorraine Warren telling the Perron's "You have a lot of spirits in here, but there's one I'm most worried about, because it is so hateful." It shows Ed and someone else checking the sound in the rooms with 'Paranormal' equipment. Lorraine's quote makes the audience scared for the family as how she describes the haunting spirit as "so hateful". This makes the audience ask "why is hateful?" "what is it going to do?".
There is then silence, which preps the audience for something scary. It shows Lorraine and Ed listening to the microphones and something whispering "look what she made me do" It then moves on to one of the little girls sitting up from bed and looking up at the wardrobe and gasping, while another one of the sisters is standing in front of the wardrobe. The camera then moves up from a low angle shot to show someone sitting on top of the wardrobe and then jumping on the girl in front of the wardrobe. Diegetic screaming is used to show realism. This scene sort of gives the audience some answers to what the spirit looks like and it shows us that it is terrorising the family.
The words "It's not a haunting" come up on the screen. This makes the audience ask "what is it if it isn't a haunting?". It then shows Caroline saying "we need to get out of here" Ed then says "that wont help" Lorraine says "this thing has latched itself to your family". This shows us that is a bit different to the average horror film as its the family being haunted, not the house. It shows a clip of something holding Caroline's wrist, and leaving a mark. This is the literal meaning of latching itself onto something.
One of the sisters gets dragged across the room by her hair and then the words "its not a possession" comes up on the screen. This bit is a bit less anticipated then the earlier scary bits as there is nothing to prepare the audience for it, that is what gives it the shock factor, which appeals to audience as it is not being over done.
Ed is shown taking to a priest saying "Father we never seen nothing like this". This scares the audience as they investigate things like this but this case is different. The appearance of the Priest also suggests that there may be a exorcism and/or there is a religious element (e.g. Satanism)
It shows one of the sisters sitting in a police car ad a crow flying into the window and smashing it. It then shows lots of crows flying around and hitting the house and dying. This tells us that something supernatural is doing it. The words "but the truth" also come up on the screen. This again helps build the narrative.
It shows Lorraine falling down the floor boards and the words "will consume you" come up on the screen, this carries on from before with the word "but the truth will consume you". Lorraine falling down through the floor boards, is in a way the literal meaning of being consumed by the house.
The girl says "There's a lady in a dirty nightgown that I see in my dreams, she's standing in front of my mum's bed". It then shows the mum sleeping in bed and her suddenly waking up and screaming and there is a woman (who the little girl described) floating on top of her. This is an expected scare as the little girl was talking about it before hand, so the audience are prepped.
Then there is a series of small shots of scary shots. it is fast paced so lots of scary scenes can fit in to a small space of time. This adds to the appeal as people can see that there are lots of scary bits in the movie. It isn't a shock as they are all in the same space.
The title is then shown. This indicates the end of the trailer however, it carries on to a sting
The sting features one of the little girls talking to Lorraine. The little girl gives Lorraine a music box with a mirror in it and says "You wanna see him?, When the music stops you see him in the mirror standing behind you". It shows Lorraine looking for 'him' behind her. She can also hear something whispering "She made me do it" which is used before in a scary bit of the trailer, so it links back to it. The audience expects to see a ghost or something in the mirror when the music stops so it is anticipated. However as the music stops there is no one there so Lorraine puts the box down and a creepy woman is staring at her. She screams and falls backwards. This is a shock to the audience as they were not expecting it, so it makes it appealing to horror fans as they expect there to be lots of scary moments in the film, similar to the sting.
The music from the music box carries on to the release date which is shown after the sting. This makes it memorable as it is put in the place after the sting. Also throughout the trailer at the bottom of the screen it has '#THECONJURING' and 'FB.COM/THECONJURINGMOVIE'. These are social media links so people can talk about the movie with social media, creating hype around the movie
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