Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer Analysis

The audience is told the title of the film halfway through the trailer, and again at the end. The use of this gives the viewers a clearer idea of what the trailer is about- obviously the term 'nightmare' suggests themes of horror and supernaturalism, whilst 'Elm Street' tells the audience that the film is set in a regular location with 'normal' characters who are unaware of what they about to endure. The audience are not told who is starring in the film, but at the end they are told of the producer (Robert Shaye) and the director (Wes Craven). The voice-over tells the audience that Craven was the same director of 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'The Last House On The Left', two gruesome horror films of the 1970's who recieved mixed reactions from audiences. As these two films featured extreme scenes of blood and gore, the audience can expect that 'Nightmare on Elm Street' will probably be no different, as the director appears to prefer this type of horror.

The action we are shown in the trailer is mainly of how the villian's victims are affected, and how he harms them as they desperately try to escape. Unlike modern horror trailers, this trailer from 1984 goes straight into its plot without creating tension or any build-up. The effect of this could be to reel the audience straight away into the trailer, and keep them hooked throughout. What the audience is shown is a series of quick shots of a girl being thrown across a room covered in blood, a man being accused of murdering this girl, and the different characters trying to work out the reason for all these mysterious killings. We are also shown the trauma of the other characters as it becomes clear that the villian, Freddy Krueger, haunts and tries to brutally murder them in their sleep.

The music used for the trailer straight away sets its theme of horror or mystery. In the beginning, the eeire combination of a piano and a choir play before an electronic piece of music, a typical sound to resemble the 80's, begins to play when one of the characters mentions: "you just see... cuts happen". From this point, the music speeds up to create tension as the plot begins to unfold. It may seem that the electronic music used for the trailer is a slightly odd if it is supposed to signify horror and gore, but the cold, tense effect of the music resemble Freddy Krueger's iconic 'tool' that he uses to murder his victims: several knifes attached to a glove.

The trailer does come with a voice-over, who speaks in a menacing, villainous tone to create extra effect to the piece. Such voice-overs would probably be mocked in modern day, as now audiences are used to more realistic types of horror that they can relate to. But this old-style approach of using a 'melodramatic' voice-over builds up the tension for the audience. It also confirms for them the trailer's main theme, as trailers from the 80's did not use as much affects and cut-shots and different voice-overs as we do in modern day. The affects we can use in a trailer today help the audience realise what the film is about, whereas straight away in the beginning of this trailer, for instance, the voice-over had to immediatly begin with "the kids of Elm Street don't know it yet, but something is coming... to get them."

The speed of the trailer does not change, as no quick shots or fast-motion effects are used. Throughout the whole trailer, the shots all play near enough at the same pace; but through the speeding up of the music, it may seem that the trailer does become faster halfway through. At the end when the voice-over says the title, the music reaches its climax and stops, so that the audience can hear the title clearly and it will stay in their mind for when they next go to the cinema or want to purchase a DVD/Video.

The information we are given on the film is how several friends are haunted by the evil Freddy Kruegar who comes to them when they are asleep and they are powerless to defend themselves. They don't see him during day, only when they are asleep and he is in their mind. He still has the power to kill them and they can still feel pain, and the episodes they endure with him truely are nightmares as noone else can see them- making it harder for other characters to believe it and to start choosing innocent people as the culprits of the murders.

Despite being a trailer which anyone can see, the trailer does feature some scenes where the characters are about to be attacked, even at one point showing a girl soaked in blood as she is thrown about her bedroom. Because of this disturbing content, the trailer is not suitable for young children, but may appeal to some viewers who enjoy a horror film with a traditional storyline; the villian going after a group of vulnerable teenagers. Thus, the trailer is also aimed at teenagers as they can relate with the characters and their lives- making it more realistic for them and therefore creating a bigger impact for when they would watch the full film.