Horror trailer analysis 2

The film trailer which I have decided to analyse is called the Ring, which is an American psychological horror movie directed by Gore Verbinski and released in October 2002. The narrative of the movie consists of a woman who watches a tape which then puts a curse on her and she only has a week to try and break the curse. However the film takes a sudden twist when her son watches the film and now the woman’s motive is to not only save herself but her son from the terrifying curse. The film consists of many award winning actors who play the roles of; Rachael (Naomi Watts), Noah (Martin Henderson), and Anna Morgan (Shannon Cochran). 

The Codes and conventions/shot types and angles:

·         The first common convention visible to the audience within the trailer is the colour black. This colour connotes to the audience of that something dark and mysterious is going to occur within the movie. The darkness of the colour black also symbolises to the target audience of danger and death which is also a reoccurring theme throughout the film.  Lastly, black also creates enigma for the audience which ultimately attracts them and creates demand for the film upon its release.

·         Another convention which occurs throughout the trailer is the use of the close up shots. I believe that Gore Verbinski has incorporated these shot types due to the fact that having close up shots creates an uncomfortable atmosphere for the audience and it also allows the target audience to see the facial expressions created by the iconic figure within the shot frame. This shot is very effective in the horror type genre trailers as having close up shots for the audience to see creates excitement and creates demand for the movie as the audience would like to see why exactly the iconic actor/actress is feeling that type of emotion, which in most cases is fear.  

Editing:

·         Within the trailer, editing has been used to build up and heighten the tension created. As the trailer begins not much editing has been used as no jump shots or cut shots (common shots and editing types used to heighten tension within horror genres), are evident.

·         However, as the trailer begins to pick up pace, jump shots and cut shots become more frequent along with the timing of each shot also decreasing.

·         By using a variety of shot types and shot lengths, it speeds up the trailer and also makes the audience see less of the scenes which occur within the film. This creates enigma for the audience and ultimately makes them want to see what happens within the film.

·         As the trailer reaches its climax near the end, the soundtrack used also speeds up which builds up and emphasises the tension created which grabs the audience’s attention and creates demand for the movie. 

Sound:

·         The soundtrack used within the trailer consists of a voice over with some eerie music mellowing behind it. The reason why Gore Verbinski has decided to include this is to slowly build up the tension to the audience as by having the voice over immediately engages the audience’s attention. In addition, by having the eerie soundtrack playing it connotes enigma and suspense.

·         As the trailer continues, the eerie music begins to pick up pace and this also has a direct link with the cut shots shown within the trailer. This creates excitement for the audience along with the tension being created steadily increasing. 

 Mis-en-scene:

-         Within the trailer, the clothing worn on the iconic actors makes them easily identifiable to the audience what role they are going to play within the film.

·         The antagonist is dressed in dark black colours which connotes to the audience that this woman is dangerous and mysterious. In addition, due to the black and white colours used within the trailer, having the antagonist following the same colour theme makes the audience want to know who this woman is and what link she may have with the film.

·         The protagonist is dressed in neutral and natural colours which connotes to the audience that this woman is innocent and pure.

·         By having the lack of makeup put on the antagonist, it creates enigma among the audience as generally within many horror genres the antagonist is easily identifiable due to the heavy makeup used in order to connote some sort of danger is around this person. By having colours of black and white, it could mean that this female may be purely innocent.

 

 

URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuH5FaUpFm4