The last exorcism is a Mockumentary (mock documentary) horror film directed by Daniel Stamm. It is a film which follows a priest trying to draw the devil from a farmer’s daughter after being possessed by it by carrying out a number of exorcisms. The trailer which is 60 seconds long portrays an extremely horrific experience and makes you want to go to the cinema as soon as the film is released to experience this amazing horror film. The trailer achieves this by using a number of different techniques from sound to editing to mise en scene, giving you a sneak peek of what the film has to offer. This trailer has many conventions you expect to see in a horror trailer such as the eerie music.
The music featured in this trailer builds suspense to what will happen leaving you terrified and wanting to see it. All through the trailer there is eerie music building louder when facts and writing comes up on the screen this builds up tension making you focus more to what is on the screen therefore paying more attention to what the film is about. Also the uprising in beats in the music could represent the viewer’s heart beats as they are scared and the increase in beats in the heart could be due to the tension and anxiety about what is going to happen and what the view is experiencing. There are also, synchronous sounds in the film, there is screams coming from a girl and we see this from a close up of her face this links the action to the sound. This is also, shown when this same girl who is possessed by the devil lets out a evil roar we also, see a close up of her face at this point this makes it more scary as we can link this horrible sound to a horrible image making it appear more scary. We also, hear two more conventional horror sounds of creaking floor boards and rattling chains, we may find this scary as it is the unknown of what is coming towards us this is also linked with a close up of feet chained up walking with a cut to a man in a cream suit looking terrified looking up to the ceiling as he does not know where the sound is coming from. This gives the audience an advantage and allows them to join in the experience as they can see something that the man cannot.
In this trailer there are a lot of hand held shots. By doing this it gives it a more personal experience to the viewers as they are experiencing what the character is seeing through their eyes allowing the audience to connect more. This is important as it will increase the fear factor of the film as it is almost like they are being put into the same situation. There is also a point where the camera tilts down a corridor or a girl who is blacked out. By doing this it increases the tension as you do not know who is coming towards you. This is a good convention of a horror trailer as it leaves you wondering what will happen and it is scary as it is dark. By having the girl in the dark, blacked out it could suggest that she is evil mysterious or that she has something to do with death as black represents all these things.
We see a few images of a girl with sunken eyes messy dark brown hair dark pupils wearing a white nightdress and red boots. The whole image that this character is portraying is scary. Having sunken eyes with big bags shows that she has not had a lot of sleep and is ill. This could give clues to the story line of the film as this could be the girl possessed by an evil spirit. Dark pupils could suggest emptiness and death. By being empty could mean she has no soul making her not human therefore appearing scarier and leave you asking the question to yourself how did she become like that. However by her wearing red boots suggest that she is still a young girl that something nasty has happened to her and that she is still human. This therefore makes you want to see this film as you are inquisitive to see what happens to this girl.
There is also, a close up of a man wearing a white suit holding a cross. By wearing a white suit could suggest that he has a pure soul and is good as we see the colour white as representing things were as we see black and bad. As well if we see the man holding a cross we also, think of him as helping or as good as he is worshiping something which is known to be good and helping or a good symbol rather than a symbol that is known for black magic or worshiping the devil. As well by holding the cross it gives us an insight into the film as Christian chanting is used in exorcisms.
The writing that is shown on the trailer also, shows conventions of horror films. There is a black background which indicated death depression and disappears. The font used is harsh and sharp looking this could suggest that it is a film that will leave you on the edge of your seat as you do not know what will happen next. Also, the font has a gothic look to it and during the gothic period black magic played a huge part in everyday life suggesting that the film may have an element of black magic. However there is light shining through points in the letters this could suggest that there is hope or things will get better. This could be attractive to potential viewers as they like to know that there will be an ending; a conclusion to the story rather than be left not knowing what will happen to the characters.
