Ouija- Horror Genre

The trailer I am analysing is Ouija and this genre is horror. In this trailer, a lot of over the shoulder shots are used and this is because in a typical horror film the so called demon has control and power over the people who are being haunted and this angle shot shows us the demon has dominance and that the ordinary people are weak. Normally, the people who are haunted in horror films are just typical, ordinary people and we can tell this by the clothes they wear. They are wearing everyday clothes such as sweaters which implies that they don't have any problems to stand out to the audience. In addition, the ouija board is a huge convention as this is usually associated with ghosts and people who aren't here anymore and this relates to the horror genre because most horror films normally have a relation to the 'dead' as people would call it. When the girl who first dies is being tortured, a close up shot of her is taken. This allows the audience to concentrate on her terrified facial expression which allows us to locate the film in the horror genre.

The plot of the trailer allows us to identify that this is the horror genre as it starts of with people getting on with their normal day life and suddenly there is a disruption that cannot be seen or recognised. This is when the demon or ghost is introduced. In this trailer, the family and friends of the girl who was killed are left to believe that she hung herself and they have no answers why. This shows us that it belongs in the horror genre as something violent has happened by someone who does not have a living soul. Usually in horror films, there is no peace at the end and in the Ouija trailer at the end it shows one of the friends being possessed as her eyes roll up and she suddenly develops a dark, scary voice and this shows that no happy ending will occur. The characters of the trailer are just normal high school students who have never ad problems but they have now been disrupted because of their friends death and the demon trying to attack them. This implies that the film is part of the horror genre because it is usually people who have never been bothered and are suddenly targeted.

The Ouija trailer shows that the majority of the film takes place in the house where Debbie is killed by the demon. A typical horror film normally starts of from a house that becomes haunted and this trailer shows the house being haunted by the demon. In addition, when the friends are in the house, most of the time it is dark and this creates a sense of mystery and also makes the audience feel on edge because us as an audience prepare ourselves for something to jump out. The horror genre don't normally have a long and difficult narrative, in Ouija this is displayed as it is based around the demon or ghost haunting the group of friends because they have tried to interfere with the dead and from this the ghost/demon wants to haunt and torture them and they only want one answer about Debbie's death so it becomes simple for the audience to understand therefore we can identify that it is in the horror genre.

Throughout the Ouija genre, there is only one type of music which is non diegetic and parallel as it is upbeat but creates a scary and tense atmosphere. There is no real music, it is just sound made by instruments to make the audience feel on edge. When something scary happens, the sound suddenly picks up it pace and creates an intense mood. However before the thing happens there is always a silence for about 4 seconds and this prepares the audience for the terrifying thing to occur. The sound and presence of it allows us to identify that the trailer is part of the horror genre because it is usually meant to make us feel on edge and it is fast pace when the demon or ghost is approaching the ones being haunted. Moreover, a slow version of a nursery rhyme is played and this makes the audience feel anxious because this is not how the song should be played. In several horror films slow versions of nursery rhymes are played. For example, there is one played in Insidious and this reminds us of the horror genre so we can relate Ouija to being horror.