Summary: A Nightmare On Elm Street Trailer

This trailer is for the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, which contains many of the codes and conventions expected of both a movie trailer and a horror movie. While the titles/intertitles, transitions, and voice overs have clear meaning within the codes of movie trailers, the sound effects, dialogue, and locations follow the codes of the horror movie genre. This analysis will seek to understand each of these components and how they correlate to the two larger sets of codes. As mentioned, the A Nightmare on Elm Street trailer follows many movie trailer conventions. One of the most important pieces of a movie trailer is the text that appears within it, which usually includes things like titles, the release date, or the names of people …show more content…
The locations within a movie can tell the viewer a lot about the genre of the film, but it can also help set the mood for the events that unfold. This trailer includes many locations, but only three are notable: what appears to be an abandoned factory or industrial park, a boiler room, and an abandoned school. These add a sense of uneasiness as they are places that most people should not be in. They also create a heightened sense of panic when both the protagonist and the antagonist appear in the location together, as the abandoned nature means that there is no one around to help. The sound effects in the A Nightmare on Elm Street trailer also follow horror movie conventions as the add more feelings of dread for the viewer. The main sound effect that creates this feeling is what seems to be the distorted heartbeat/footsteps that lead up to the title reveal. It’s somewhat difficult to decipher which the thumps are intended to be, but either way, it induces fear in the viewer. As a heartbeat, the sound signifies the panic of the characters, and as footsteps it signifies the antagonist getting closer to the characters. There are also various blood-curdling screams throughout the A Nightmare on Elm Street trailer, which is also more of a horror movie convention as the characters are constantly being terrified by the antagonist. These screams can also induce …show more content…
Through the titles, the transitions, and the voice over the trailer allows the viewer to gain information about the movie without spoiling too much of the plot, while the locations, the sound effects, and the lighting the trailer lets the viewer know it is a horror movie as these all follow horror movie codes and conventions. Together these two sets of codes give the viewer everything they need to evaluate whether or not they want to see the movie being