Comparative case study

As you can see from above I have chosen The Shining and The Conjuring 2, these films both have a horror genre and have a similar theme. The Shining was made 36 years before The Conjuring 2 which gives us the understanding of how different they are from each other as this genre has developed over the years. Moreover, this will help me to understand how the genre has developed and how any conventions have developed.

The shining trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32A7bTalgAE

The conjuring 2 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFsmuRPClr4

Firstly, from the two trailers we can see that they use similar codes and conventions for example both films make use of silence. This is shown in The Conjuring 2 trailer as when we see the girl who is experiencing all of this is in her room standing there before the creature jumps out at her there is complete silence emphasising the tension therefore giving it more of a jump factor. However when looking at the trailer for The shining when the man stops speaking there is a minute of silence which builds up the suspense making the audience wonder what will happen next in the trailer, However there is a difference in location, in The Conjuring 2 the location is dark, no colour emphasising the world she is stuck in and how scary it is but when looking at The Shining the director has decided that he would like to use a orange/red setting which contradicts the theme and the genre. Dark locations tend to suggest more danger therefore by the director deciding to use quite a bright location it isn’t as scary as it could be however both films make the us for the convention of silence enhancing the horror genre.

The Mise – en – scene from these two films have their similarities and differences. As in the last paragraph I looked at how the use of colours for the locations were completely different which for one made it has the horror feature wasn’t enhanced as much as it could have been. However unlike The conjuring 2 the convention used in The Shining were more typical for example blood and knives which helps in enhancing the genre and slasher theme for this film. The use of lighting in the two films is also quite different as The conjuring 2 is more of a jump scare film it tends to be quite dim throughout so when something does happen it seems bigger and scarier than it actually is. On the other hand The shining makes good use of their lighting as unlike most horror films they have chosen to do it with good lighting allowing the audience to see everything which takes away how big the jump scare factor could be. 

Again with both trailers sound is a key feature as it helps bring out many features such as suspense, jump scare factor as well as many others. In both trailers they do not use particularly fast paced music but they have sudden changes which helps in bringing out the suspense. For example in The Conjuring 2 every time they are building up to a convention like then monster coming out of nowhere the music intensifies again bringing out the horror aspects and drawing people in. They also use sound bridges and sound effects which help in making it a more eye catching trailer therefore convincing people to go and watch the film. However as The Shining is a slasher film the music starts quite soft and builds up to be quite loud which tells the audience that something big is going to happen.  The music and sound is an important convention and feature for horror films.

The editing for both trailers are similar along with most other horror films as the aim of all horror trailers is to be suspenseful. The Shining and The Conjuring use quick cuts throughout however in The Conjuring 2 the vary their editing techniques as they also use fading. When it comes to horror films  these are the most common type of editing techniques as it allows them to show intensity and suspense easily which allows them to attract and audience. They also create these trailers in a way that it seems so real to the viewer therefore making it more effective and successful.