Insidious film trailer analysis

Camera

-          First shot of main protagonist is a mid-shot and shows his emotion which seems to be anxious. The next clip shows his cuts to a medium close up similar to the first shot of the trailer, however this time the protagonist is closing his eyes, and the camera is zooming in. This zooming movement connotes that we are looking at his thoughts.

-          The next shot is a shot cut of what is assumed to be their house. The camera is tracking left, and the movement feels slightly unnatural, which connotes that someone is watching the house. The shot is also low angle, connoting the house is powerful, and giving it a menacing look.

-          The previous shot then fades out, and a close up of a metronome then fades in. This also sets the scene as people usually have metronomes in the 20^th century.

-           Smooth but shaky camera movement when showing characters views in corridors, builds tension and shows fears of the character, so the audience can imagine if they were in the characters position.

-          Smooth camera movements reflect feelings of main protagonists as the story plans out. For example in the hospital setting, s which zooms in on the characters faces shows emotion and feelings of anxiety and sadness.    

    

Mise en scene

-          In terms of the Mise en scene, this covers many aspects that a conventional horror film will include such as the props, costume, location, people etc.

-          The trailer consists of a typical location, a middle class house in a nice, respectable, quiet neighborhood occupied by a regular loving family. This is juxtaposed by the house being inhabited by a demon

-          Lighting is very soft in daytime and calm scenes of the trailer, such as the hospital scene, which creates a reassuring nature. In the tenser and darker scenes, the lighting is harsher, with lots of shadows This creates a darker atmosphere and harsher tone so creates horror. This is a typical convention of a horror film

Sinister Film Trailer Analsyis

Film trailers follow numerous conventions. In this trailer there is the dramatic voice-over, which doesn’t feature so often in modern film trailers, but was widely used in films of the 1980s and 90s. The way that the film trailer is edited is another convention. The pace of the “cuts” are quick and snappy to generate a fast pace. The sound effects of gun fire and explosions feature heavily and clips of explosions and gun-fire is at the forefront of film trailers for action movies.

Camera shots

The sinister trailer uses the typical conventions you would see in a horror movie. From the start of the trailer, it begins with the image of a dark, “smooky” house. The trailer starts off with a dolly shot, moving towards the dark house, this helps build tension right from the start of the clip and starts the scary setting.  Throughout the trailer, the use of short shorts have been used, this makes the trailer seem unexpected and makes the audience feel on edge. Close up’s in these types of genres are used to see reactions on the actor/actresses face. This is the shot that shows the most emotion from the characters. It is also used to capture detail in an important scene. From this trailer there was continuous close ups and medium shots of faces mainly the main character, this shows the emotion and portrays his fear when watching the video and other parts of the trailer.

Mise en-scene

The film sinister is set in a suburban, and any other ordinary house which helps with the suspense as the audience is thinking this could happen at any house.  In the kitchen scene there is one light that produces a shadow, which keeps the background in darkness. This gives the audience a feeling that something dangerous could happen.

The props which are used in the trailer such as, the vintage projector tapes create a sense an old fashioned scenario which seems creepy and generates fear within the audience,

Sound

As the trailer progresses there are more images of different families on the different tapes, all the tapes are of the family’s murders. We are shown a car being lit on fire and a child going underwater, these images just give the audience a taste to expect absolute disgust and repulsion. Screams and high pitch noises are used during this, it is used to keep the audiences pulse racing and makes them more ‘on edge’ We are then shown a same symbol and an explanation and we now know that this symbol represents a child murderer. The non- diegetic sound in the trailer is a simple slow music which builds the tension throughout the trailer and the audience is thinking something bad is going to happen.

Editing

Many of the clips in the trailer, there are lots of fade transitions to black, which creates the feeling of unease that something may be wrong; this technique is used In many horror trailers. In the last 30 seconds of the trailer, the trailer uses very quick cuts which show the fast pace building and the tension increasing. At the end of the trailer where it says “coming soon” follows the theme from an old projector. 

Narrative Theory

Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions of Action Genre

·         12/15 certificate, maximising youth audiences

·         Often hybridised with Sci Fi/Adventure/Romance

·         Major Hollywood studio produced and distributed

·         High production values including CGI FX. Fast paced editing

·         Classic Hollywood 3 act narrative structure

·         Predictable chain of events – cause and effect

·         Single stranded, linear, closed narrative

·         Dramatic non-diegetic sound

·         More narrative action codes than enigma codes

·         Clear binary opposition

·         Romantic sub-plot, Humorous dialogue

·         Relationships with new technology (youth audiences)

·         Use of close up/Insert shots/High Key Lighting

·      Dominant representation of gender: male/female action hero. Mulvey’s male gaze and contemporary female gaze can apply

·         Propp’s theories applicable

·   Uses and Gratifications theory can be mapped onto Action Films

Expendables Movie Trailer analysis

In this blog I shall carrying out a critical analysis of a film trailer for the movie ‘The Expendables’.

The intended audience for this film trailer are predominantly males over the age of eighteen that like the thrill of an action movie. Despite this, there is potential that this film may appeal to women on some level. I believe that a film trailer is more likely to entice a female audience to an action movie than a poster for the same movie.

The intended audience being male would want to see this movie primarily due to the cast members. The line up of past action movie “hero’s” with those of today would give the intended audience the “wow” factor. This is because the audience will remember the older cast members for the destruction in their previous movies and the audience will have the familiarity of the younger cast members for technological advancements in weaponry and faster and extended hand-fight elements. The amalgamation of these two attributes would make the audience think about what carnage could be created. For the intended audience for an action movie this is what they would like to see as part of the story within the film. Also, in the film trailer there was an “attractive” woman that would appeal to men, mainly for psychological sexual gratification.

Partly due to the female character this film trailer would appeal to a female audience. The woman in the film has a dual role that women will be able to relate to. On the one hand she comes across as a “heroine” and then soon after as the “damsel in distress”. There is also a hint within the trailer that there maybe a potential “love” element to it depicted by a short clip of her hugging one of the male characters. This plays on the fact that women, despite modern social conventions, want their men to be “manly”.  

Film trailers follow numerous conventions. In this trailer there is the dramatic voice-over, which doesn’t feature so often in modern film trailers, but was widely used in films of the 1980s and 90s. The way that the film trailer is edited is another convention. The pace of the “cuts” are quick and snappy to generate a fast pace. The sound effects of gun fire and explosions feature heavily and clips of explosions and gun-fire is at the forefront of film trailers for action movies.

History Of Film Trailers