In the journey to create our OWN horror trailer, our team at Film Valor identified 3 different horror film trailers that had the elements of what we wanted. Through the study of these 3 trailers which included "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "The Evil Dead (Remake)," and "The Conjuring" I was able to find similarities or trends in the three trailers to break down what moments I really wanted to have in our trailer. The goal was to make it fun, scary and a magnet to pull people into the experience.
Here are those three trailers and my outline:
Here is my own outline for creating a horror trailer based on my research:
1) WELCOME - Horror Genre established here in the first moment / characters established and warnings of the monster or a scary moment establishes the potential danger the characters face.
2) ORIGINAL SIN - Here the characters commit the “original sin” that gets them haunted in the first place - this should be between 30 seconds and the 1 minute mark but not much later.
3) DANGER - character in low danger scene - normally just a creepy moment.
4) WARNING - a character talks about how they are concerned about the potential danger ahead.
5) MORE DANGER - a character in a medium danger scene - potentially life and death.
6) A CALL TO ARMS - a character talks about how they will fight the immediate threat / it can also be effective to show a characters in danger ASKING FOR MORE/ THREATENING THE MONSTER at some point.
7) ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE - This should be around 1 minute and 45 seconds to leave the remaining 15 seconds for build up. Here we see many brief (3-4second) moments of characters fighting for their lives they are BLOODY, TIRED, SCREAMING, RUNNING, HIDING, DODGING or only one major moment of extremely INTENSE FEAR/PAIN.
8) FEAR CLIMAX - The final shot must be one of the best scares in the film that leaves an audience dizzy from fear and excitement!
9) TITLE CARD - 2 minutes nearly on the mark. The title of the film APPEARS in a swell of music or noise and then the billing block.
Here are those three trailers and my outline:
"I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997)
"Evil Dead (Remake)" (2013)
"The Conjuring" (2013)
Here is my own outline for creating a horror trailer based on my research:
2 MINUTE HORROR FILM TRAILER OUTLINE By The Genre Filmmaker Journal
2) ORIGINAL SIN - Here the characters commit the “original sin” that gets them haunted in the first place - this should be between 30 seconds and the 1 minute mark but not much later.
3) DANGER - character in low danger scene - normally just a creepy moment.
4) WARNING - a character talks about how they are concerned about the potential danger ahead.
5) MORE DANGER - a character in a medium danger scene - potentially life and death.
6) A CALL TO ARMS - a character talks about how they will fight the immediate threat / it can also be effective to show a characters in danger ASKING FOR MORE/ THREATENING THE MONSTER at some point.
7) ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE - This should be around 1 minute and 45 seconds to leave the remaining 15 seconds for build up. Here we see many brief (3-4second) moments of characters fighting for their lives they are BLOODY, TIRED, SCREAMING, RUNNING, HIDING, DODGING or only one major moment of extremely INTENSE FEAR/PAIN.
8) FEAR CLIMAX - The final shot must be one of the best scares in the film that leaves an audience dizzy from fear and excitement!
9) TITLE CARD - 2 minutes nearly on the mark. The title of the film APPEARS in a swell of music or noise and then the billing block.