Written horror film trailer analysis


House at the end of the street.
Analysis of shots and lighting/colour.

The trailer starts with the main character, played by Jenifer Lawrence, walking down a deserted street at night. The only light comes from dim, yellow street lamps that line the road, giving the scene an eerie effect. The street lamps only illuminate the road leaving the surrounding in complete darkness. This creates an enigma code as the audience doesn’t know what could be hiding in the shadows. A wide shot is used to show the character and her surroundings, emphasising her isolation and the helpless situation she would be in if something did happen. The next shot is a medium close up of the character with a car approaching in the background. The shot uses a focus pull as the character in the foreground is in focus and the car behind her out of focus. This draws the audience’s attention to the character but also brings the approaching car into their consciousness, suggesting it might be important to the scene. Although the cars lights are on they are not bright and do not seem to light up the scene any more than the dull street lamps, continuing the eerie atmosphere earlier established. A shot reverse shot sequence uses close up shots of both the female character and the male character in the car to show their facial expressions and the way they react to each other. They both appear quite calm when you look only at their facial expressions but the way the female character looks over her shoulder repeatedly suggests she may be more unsure than she is letting on, leaving the audience to wonder what she fears.

When the female character gets in the car, shown by a wide shot that reminds the audience of the deserted surroundings, and when the two characters are conversing in the car there are bright shots of white light, like a flash of lighting, that work to make the audience jump and  put them on edge, creating a sense of danger and uncertainty as well as making them want to know what will happen next. This also links in with the stormy weather that means the female must take shelter in the male characters car- emphasising her venerability in the situation.

The establishing shot of the house at the end of the street is brightly lit and made up of mostly light colours which seems to make it look non-threatening, however the shot also shows that the house is made up of a mismatch of colours and designs, this could be used to symbolise a broken home and the idea of corruption and impurity in the relationship between the characters that lived there.

The wide shot showing the characters sitting around a table outside at some sort of dinner party is made up mostly of pastel colours and the lighting is soft but light. This could suggest that these characters are not involved in the dark goings on that are shown throughout the rest of the trailer. In this shot the main female character is wearing a white top which has connotations of innocence and purity. This may imply that she is the victim of the situation and is dragged by another from this light world of pastel colours to the darker place shown in the second half of the trailer.

In the next section of the trailer when the story of the house is being told by the voice over the general lighting is dark, bathing the shots in shadows and creating an enigma code and sense of mystery as only part of the scene is being shown to the audience; leaving them to fill in the gaps and create the details. This is emphasised by the repeated use of bright white lightning flashes that reveal part of the scene but are so bright compared with the darkness of the scene that the audience is almost temporarily blinded and only sees selected parts of the short, sharp shots so that a sense of fear is created for the audience. The shots are a mixture of close ups and extreme close ups that seem disoriented and out of order, suggesting an atmosphere of panic and chaos. An example is an extreme close of the girls face where all you can see is a mass of hair and one eye. This shows enough of the character to scare the audience but so much that it reveals the plot of loses its effect. Another example is a close up shot showing a police crime scene tape across the woods in front of the house. This suggests that something terrible has happened there and accompanied by the voice over helps to tell the audience, in a general sense, what the film will be about.

A really effective shot used 1:04 into the trailer shows a point of view shot looking through the trees at the main female character. The part of woods that the character is walking through appears bright and green in contrast with the darkness that, it seems,  she is being looked at from. The camera then moves across and it passes behind the watchers head. All that the audience sees is a silhouetted figure of a female watching the character, this creates an enigma code and a  sense of fear as the audience doesn’t know who is watching or why.

Overall the use of dark lighting and bright flashes of lightning create a continuous ominous atmosphere, which is key to the horror genre and the audience is given a twisted, half hidden view of the dark events and characters in the film which also has a similar effect and suggests there is more of the story to be discovered, encouraging the audience to watch the film, vital for a trailer. The contrasting brightly lit shots containing light colours emphasise the innocence of the characters victimised and the difference between the two worlds the protagonist experiences throughout the course of the film.      




   
   
Final Destination

Analysis of sound

The trailer starts with the main male character, shown in a mid-shot from behind, in the airport, looking at an aeroplane. From this shot you could assume that the event the tense sound is building up to is connected with the image shown-the aeroplane.  The only sound is a non-diegetic drum beat sound effect. The beat is irregular, which may represent a sense of panic and confusion in the character and an uncertainty in relation to how events will unfold from the point of view of both the character and the audience.  The beat also works to create an enigma code as it builds up tension and makes the audience want to know what will to happen next.   

The beat is soon joined by a voice over saying the words, “I got this feeling, a weird feeling”.  The beat and voice over work as a sound bridge as they both continue as the scene cuts from inside the  airport to inside the plane. This creates a sense of fear and danger, because the audience know that something is going to happen soon and the change in scene suggests that it is coming closer while the continuous sound bridge implies the events are connected.  The sounds working together builds up even more tension and puts the audience on the edge of their seats.

The voice over continues and describes the scene that the audience can see. This shows that what is being seen is happening inside the characters head, rather than in real life. This is also emphasised by the other sounds being muffled, as if they not happening at the scene despite being diegetic with the images shown. The muffled sounds include screams from the people on the plane, which highlights the atmosphere of fear and panic in the scene and the bang from the explosion which shows the impact that the explosion has and the damage that it causes. The irregular drumbeat is replaced by non-diegetic music that sounds similar to an alarm. This has connotations of danger and suggests the characters are alarmed by what is happening, so filled with panic and fear.

The music reaches a climax when the character wakes from his dream like state (shown by a close up of his face), creating a loud and sudden sound effect which adds drama to the scene and emphasises the transition from hallucination to reality so that the audience can follow what is happening in the trailer . This dramatic music continues as people leave the plane in a way that suggests the danger is not over and the vison could become reality. However this music is now in the background and there is dialogue and people screaming in the foreground.  This creates a sense of chaos and when accompanied with the birds eye shot of people running from the plane implies danger and fear in the characters.

The loud screams and music contrasts with the next scene which is silent other than the dialogue exchanged between characters shown by a shot reverse shot sequence of mid-shots. This is effective in the way that it creates suspense, as the sudden change from contrasting loud scenes to quiet ones puts the audience on edge and leaves them waiting for the next terrible thing to happen.

There is then an insert showing the plane flying away, this is accompanied by only the diegetic sound of the plane, keeping the tense atmosphere formally accomplished and giving the impression of the calm before the storm. This quiet is broken by the diegetic sound effects of the explosion from outside and the windows shattering once the scene returns to the characters in the airport. This sudden loud noise after a  period of quiet works to make the audience jump and to suggest there is no telling what will happen next.

Creepy, atmospheric, incidental music is used in the next section of the trailer. This creates an enigma code and fills the audience with a sense of fear as the sound suggests there will be morbid and violent events to come. The first scene in this section is accompanied by a voice over provided by a female newsreader talking about the deaths from the plane crash. The voice over is used to inform the reader of events so that the can gather some form of idea about the story of the film from the trailer and be encouraged to watch the film. This is  a reoccurring technique used throughout the trailer as voice overs are often used. It is also effective as it adds to the atmosphere of the trailer by emphasising human involvement and the actual people in the story so that the audience feel more emotions and connect more with the narrative.

The trailer ends with dialogue from a male character, shown in a mid-shot, saying “I’ll see you soon”  and then a sudden loud sound effect that sounds like the movement of something fast through the air. The second shot shows the main character with a weapon being swung towards his face. It could be interpreted that the words are being said by death, meaning that death is coming, the character will die. This creates a sense of fear in the audience and leaves them wanting to know what will happen.

Overall, the trailer used dramatic music and sound effects and a contrast between loud and quiet scenes to create tension, fear and a sense of danger. It also uses dialogue and voice overs in inform the audience and draw them into the story at a more personal level.       
  
     
 

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