Friday The 13th

Friday the 13th is an American horror franchise that consists of twelve slasher films, a television show, novels, comic books, and tie-in merchandise. The franchise mainly focuses on the fictional character of Jason Voorhees, who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake as a boy due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, either as the killer or the motivation for the killings. I will focus on analyzing the most recent Friday The 13th which was released on 13th February 2009.

Friday The 13th has a cult following and it is sure to make money just because of its predecessors. Due to the development of special effects and filming techniques, this film was eagerly awaited. It begins with the non diegetic sound over the top of establishing shots of the lake which fade out. People may recognize that the shots are of Camp Crystal Lake which sets up the trailer straight away. This establishing shot is a key one and we need one similar so it'll start the trailer off well and set up the location superbly. It then cuts to inside the woods with a tracking shot of a girl and boy walking towards something. With the music over the top the audience can expect something may be about to go wrong. An over the shoulder shot is used and it then moves to what the couple were looking at. The sign to Camp Crystal Lake is shown being lit by a torch which in itself is a bit scary. Fans of the previous fans will be excited by this and can begin to look for the iconic Jason X. After this shot it moves inside the camp and a few long shots are shown of shacks and accommodations. They all look untouched and most normal people would not approach them. However sticking to the horror conventions, the couple investigate, being shown through medium and close ups of the two.


At this point of the trailer the audience may be expecting that their going to jump at any second. This is a good strategy for a horror film as this makes me nervous and make them want to see the film when it is released. As they enter a room the male speaks about this room being slept in and as he does a medium shot of the bed is shown and it is clear to the audience that something is going to happen as the curtain is blowing in the wind. The two are then shown walking into a room with candles. The non diegetic music used at this point continues to create a chilling atmosphere. A long shot is used showing the two starring at a door. The girl is holding onto the man looking scared. He raises the torch at the door and it cuts to an extreme close up. This is a clever shot as you can see a shadow walk across the other side of the door. As you see the shadow pass under the door a nice sound effect of a 'Swoosh' is played which will make people watching jump.

The rest of the trailer is now going to take a much faster pace with the music following the same trend. A mixture of medium, close ups, cut aways and point of views shots are used for the montage that follows. With the girl screaming and the man running away everything seems a panic. A sequence of shots near the end of the montage is when the man is being dragged down a whole in the floor. First they use a low angle shot looking up at the girl showing she has the power to help this man. Also the two shot used shows the woman's distress at the situation and the peril this man could be about to get into. It finishes with a high angle shot looking at the man with a blood stained face. They have used it handheld it as which disorientates the viewer and makes them feel that they could be there watching this trouble unfold. The title comes up with a flickering effect with the number 13 in red colour and the rest of the title in white. We aim to use animation in our trailer but may not have the software to fulfil our ambition. The very last shot is of the woman crawling backwards on the floor screaming as, for the first time, see Jason running at her with a weapon. This important because this is the only time they reveal Jason and for many people he makes the film scary. In our trailer we are unclear on to whether reveal the killer or not. The last shot is also key because we are looking into the possibility of having a last shot similar to this. We we look at other trailers and see how they've done it.