Horror Conventions Changes Over the Years

• In the 70s Horror trailers introduced the actors and directors name before giving a teaser about what the film is about. This can be seen in 'Carrie', they stick to the horror theme by displaying their names in blood, and there is a Voice Over introducing them as their names appear. But the Voice Over would be selling the film, for example saying something like, "one of the most thrilling films of our time", this does not contribute to what the film is about, this is like a review. The characters were introduced first because in the 70s this would have been more important than whatever the film is about. Whereas now people go to the cinema to watch and discover the storyline plot, however sometimes if there is a famous actor in a film this would reflect on the film, people would think if he is in this film, then it must be good, reflecting peoples attitudes in the 70s.
• The popularity of Horror films had declined in the 80s, this is a time era for Sci-fi and action films, such as E.T, Back to the Future and Die Hard. The Horror film 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Prom Night' (1980) is very similar to Horror films in the 70s, but it is toned down a bit, such as less narrative and more dialogue from the film and still using text with Voice Over. The narrative is not used as much to move the trailer along, reflect on the developments of the conventions from the 90s but also using elements of conventions from the 70s. Over these ten year the conventions of High School Horror films were adapted to fit into the mainstream and gain a bigger more popular audience, this is seen rarely in the 80s and in the 90s when High School Horror genre was popular again and even a spoof of these conventions in the 1999 films was created, such as 'Scary Movie'.
• In the 90s Horror trailers contained the convention of a Voice Over, for example this can be seen in 'Scream', it was used to build up the trailer to make it more spooky and thrilling. For any film trailer that was produced in the 1990s would have contained a Voice Over but they also used words on the screen to add extra tension to the build up, to make the film seem more interesting and not giving everything away.
• Conventions in the 21st century change from Voice Over to text and diegetic sounds from the film. High School Horror films become a huge hit in this time era, therefore the have a larger budget to add in more special effects, more realistic and more attention to detail. You can see the change in such films like 'Prom Night' and 'Jennifers body'. Instead of the convention of a High School Horror film being a monster from the black-lagoon, it is based on the killer being an actual student or based in school where someones escaped from a mental institution.

In conclusion, from this research I have gained the knowledge of how conventions in High School Horror trailers have changed over the years, and this contributes to how we would set out our trailer. What techniques we should and should not use to keep up with our audience and their demand of their perfect horror.