Amityville: The Awakening is based on true events which started in 1974 when the oldest son of the Defo family murdered his whole family with a rifle while they slept. This film is based around a single mother who is a journalist moves into the Amityville home with her three children not knowing about its past.
The trailer begins with a long shot of the house which looks just like the original. A conversation is going on between the mother and the oldest daughter who doesn't like the idea of moving schools "it looks great apart from the fact that I have to move schools and start all over again". A long shot is then shown of the brother on a hospital bed being moved into the house which cuts to a close up of the mum saying "St. Outlands has the best neurological department in New York this house is going to be good for James". This tells the audience that the reason they moved was because James is severely ill and they can get the best help here.
It cuts to a dark screen which says 'based on true events'. Usually by including this in the trailer gets the audiences attention and makes them want to go and watch the film as you wouldn't think that this could happen in real life. When the scene begins it starts with a long shot of the house at night and the only sound is the beeping of James's machines ( diegetic sound). It cuts to an over the shoulder shot which is effective as whatever James sees the audience will also see. A black figure is seen standing outside his window and is slowly making its way closer. This cuts to the older sister waking up suddenly which is shown by a close up which shows panic in her face. The camera cuts to a long shot of the living room where one of the windows is wide open. As she closes the window a loud thunder like sound is heard as the camera moves to a close up of the light flickering for 1 second then to a medium shot of the little sister standing in the hallway. She starts to talk saying "sorry I just wanted to talk to James" (diegetic). As the older sister takes her to James who is asleep she leans down to give him a kiss when he suddenly wakes up which is shown by a medium/close up. The camera cuts back to the older sister waking up to what seems to be a nightmare but seemed so real.
The next scene begins with a doctor talking about James's injuries "there are no documented cases of anyone with James's injuries ever recovering" (diegetic). Tense music begins to play (non-digetic) as a long shot is shown of the house again at night. The older sister begins to speak (non-digetic) "something's not right here, I keep seeing things and hearing things".This makes the audience wonder what she means by this and they want to find out more. A medium shot is shown of a strange figure hiding behind the wall. The scene cuts to the older sister at school where one of her classmates says to her "its not you its the house. In 1974 the owner of this house murdered his entire family. He said voices told him to do it". This lets the audience know that all the strange events happening in the house is the spirits of the first owners of the house. A close up is shown of a wall covered in blood as a gun shot is heard (non-diegetic) which is a flashback of what the old owner did to his family. The camera cuts back to the doctor who walks over to James and lifts his back up which is covered in maggots.
The next scene begins with the older sister talking to James (non-diegetic) "can you hear them to?". After she says this a voice begins to whisper "kill them kill them all" (diegetic) This is what James can hear. As the voices are talking the camera goes to a close up of his face as he is staring at the sister as this is one of the people the voices want him to kill. The camera cuts back to the older sisters room as she jumps backwards as a hand which looks to be James's over her mouth which is shown by a close up but when she falls on the floor nothing is there which is shown by a long shot of her bedroom. This makes the audience think that the voices are playing tricks on her and James to either leave the house or for the whole family to be killed. The screen then features "from the producers of Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister". All three of these films are successful which makes the audience who have seen these want to go and watch this one.
The next scene begins with the older sister saying "this house is really bad" (non-diegetic) which is followed by a close up of James's face looking straight into the camera. This is then followed by the sister talking to James "what can I do to stop it? How can I help you?". The camera goes straight to a close up of the screen James uses to communicate and types 'kill me'. This tells the audience by James being killed will prevent the whole of his family being brutally murdered by him as the voices are targeting him as he is the weakest which is one of the conventions of a horror film. The next scene focuses on the little sister who is in her bedroom when her door opens by itself which is a stereotypical thing to happen in all horror films. She thinks its James as she gets out of bed and says his name "James" (non-diegetic) which is followed by the camera focusing on the little sister to turning towards a scary figure which appears to look like James but an evil version of him. This gets the audiences attention as this is one of the many jump scares featured in the film.
The last 20 seconds of the trailer are of a range of 1-2 second cut scenes that are still effective. There is music being played in the background (diegetic) which is a mixture of tense sounds and the beeping of James's monitors. Most of these scenes are focused on James and how he begins to attack the family as one of the scenes is a long shot of which seems to be James being thrown out of one of the windows from the upstairs of the house. Another is of a close up of James attacking the older sister but she manages to get him off her. The last thing shown in the trailer is the release date which is January 2nd 2015.
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