House Of Wax Trailer Analysis

There were roughly 64 cuts in the trailer.
There were fades, which were used to open the trailer, close the trailer and when text was present.

An example of this is when it says "six friends are lost". There were five different locations in the film trailer: a basement, a road near a forest, a town, the wax museum and a car. All of these locations are based in the small town, which we know through the diegetic dialogue of "It's not even of the GPS" helps establish the idea of isolation, as well as following codes and conventions of a horror film. This is also shown through some of the locations, such as the road and forest, which as an audience we expect to see in a horror film. The cutting rate is faster during the middle of the trailer to establish the genre and to titillate the audience by showing strong gory violence, as well as a lot of action.

Towards the end of the trailer the cutting rate slows to show the man getting covered in wax after the text appears "there's a reason they look so real". This is used to shock the audience and so they focus on what is going on as it is a key event in the film.

 Following certain codes and conventions,the film stars 6 teenagers; 2 girls and 4 boys. Different stereotypes are portrayed through these characters, and some are broken. An example of this is the blonde female (played by Paris Hilton), who is used in the film for her sex appeal, and is portrayed as vulnerable (0.58, 1.09).
The brunette is shown to be at times weaker and dependent on some of the men around her, however from the trailer we know she is the main protagonist of the film, as most of the dialogue which was bridged during the trailer was hers.

 The focus of the trailer is set around the wax museum, which is a some what original idea for a horror film and a unique selling point, even if it is a remake. During the scene where they are in the house of wax there is no voice over as we as an audience are meant to follow the teenagers, as if we were there. This is used to create shock value for when the scene changes, so it scares the audience.

There are a lot of conventions portrayed in the film trailer, such as:

1. Screams
2. Darkness
3. Isolation
4. Quick pace editing
5. Nobody around to help them
6. A knife
7. Blood
 8. Fire
9. Villains/ victims

 The mise-en-scene of the film trailer follows certain conventions. All the teenagers are wearing casual clothing, most of the trailer is shown to be at night or underground, the body language and appearances of the teenagers as the trailer progresses shows them to be more sweaty and dirty, which as an audience meets the criteria of a horror film. As well as this the use of blood, fire and weapons portrays violence and danger, which is used effectively in the trailer.