Trailer Analysis #2

During the early days of constructing a style and narrative for my film, ‘The Unborn’ was my biggest inspiration. I knew I wanted to create a film trailer that was set in the present time and included a demonic child that was not even born. After watching the trailer for ‘The Unborn’ I realised that it fit perfectly with my own narrative and I knew that it would help me greatly if I analysed it.
The basic plot consists of the protagonist, Casey Beldon who has nightmares about an evil boy who follows her around. Casey’s eye colour begins to change, and when she goes to the doctor she finds out it’s because she had a male twin that died in the womb. She begins to suspect that the spirit that is haunting her is her unborn brother that wants revenge.

The trailer starts off slow and in the next 9 seconds the audience are signaled the genre of the film, which is horror by the simple camera shots and non-diegetic sound that is used. The first shot you see is a lower angle, long shot of the house that Casey is in, this helps set the setting of the environment. Here you see that it is dark and cold outside, giving us the feeling that inside the house will be warm and cosy. We hear Casey’s voice over the shot of the house and a non-diegetic eerie type of music, the camera then cuts to a medium long shot of Casey laying on the sofa talking to her friend on the phone. She is wearing a plain white top and dark jeans, the sofa is a dark green/grey colour and the living room she is in is also a dark grey/green colour. This all fits in with the decor of the shot. Casey then hears a bang or a tumble upstairs which is followed by whispering that she can hear from the baby monitor, the lighting in the room is under lit, creating a more spooky and eerie environment. This is when the camera cuts to a close up of her face, and then to the baby monitor, Casey looks up and the audience soon realize that the noise is coming from upstairs. Here we see the confusion on Casey’s face and the audience’s curiosity rises and makes them on edge and uneasy.

We then hear Casey’s friend on the phone say ‘Case?’ showing she knows something is wrong, Casey says ‘Hang on’ meaning she is going to go and see what’s going on. The camera fades on to an over shoulder shot of Casey walking into the baby’s room. Casey is in shallow focus and the room is in focus. Here we see a little boy standing over the baby cot whispering ‘some people are doorways…’ you then hear Casey saying ‘what are you doing Matty?’, the camera cuts to a medium close up of Casey getting hold of Matty’s arm. The lighting in the room is under lit. The colour of the baby room is light grey, not the colour a baby’s room would normally be, but because this is a horror film, it fits in perfectly as it keep the mood of the scene spooky and on edge. You see that Matty had a mirror in his hand, he was trying to show the baby in the cot his reflection. The eerie music is getting more intense, and then you see Matty smash the mirror in Casey’s face. We hear a non-diegetic ‘bang’.  All of this builds up the audiences’ tension and makes them more wary whilst also wondering what is going to happen next. By this time the audience has already guessed that the genre of this film is horror.

After Matty smashes the mirror on Casey’s face we hear her yelp, the camera cuts to a reaction shot, we see Casey’s face which is full of horror and confusion.  The camera cuts to a close up of Matty’s face, he then says ‘he wants to be born now’, camera cuts to another reaction shot of Casey, and the horror in her eyes is more intense. Whilst all this is happening the sound of the eerie music gets more intense and louder, when Matty hits Casey with the mirror we hear a non-diegetic bang, after Matty says ‘he wants to be born now’ we hear the eerie music louder and then another non-diegetic bang. This builds up the audiences’ anticipation and excitement.

 What we then see is two things, a still medium close up of the boy that haunts Casey (her dead brother) and the strap ‘Rogue Pictures’ on the screen. The two images fade in and out, the shot of Casey’s brother is the background and the strap moves onto and off the screen, zoomed in and out, the shot of the brother dissolves and the strap is back on the screen. What makes this sequence scary is the fact that the boy looks very scary. He has pale white skin, bright blue eyes with dark circles under them and very dark lips that are almost black. He is wearing a white shirt that is buttoned all the way to the top and a black coat; he looks almost like he is dressed for a funeral. His face is expressionless, behind him we see a long road that is turning towards the right, and there is snow on the side of the road, we also see bushes and trees with no leaves on them. All of this gives us a very cold and uneasy feeling. What makes the audience more on edge is the fact that the place that Casey’s brother is standing in looks like a normal park that we would walk through in the middle of the day, and this little boy that is dead is just standing right in the middle of it, making the audience feel like this boy could be anywhere, creating a bigger fear factor.

The strap then fades out, we then see continuous editing; we first see an extreme long shot of the city from a higher angle fade in; showing the audience that this film is set in the city, we hear a non-diegetic piano playing, creating a creepy and an uneasy mood. The shot dissolves onto a bird eye view of Casey running in a park, it looks like the same park that we see her dead brother standing in a few shots earlier. Here a match on action happens and the camera dissolves from a bird eye view of Casey running in the park to a dissolves onto a medium close up of her running in the park, the shot then dissolves onto a medium close up of Casey having a shower in what looks like a gym shower, showing that she is a fit and well person. Camera fades onto a long shot of Casey sitting in a changing room in a towel brushing her hair, camera cuts to an over shoulder view of Casey’s friend Romy who leans over to Casey; face full of confusion and says ‘Case there is something wrong with your eye’ camera cuts onto a reaction shot of Casey who says ‘what are you talking about?’. This shows the audience that Casey has no idea that her eye is changing colour, also that Romy is one of her close friends because women normally go to the gym with their best friends and introducing Romy onto the screen and hearing her call Casey ‘Case’ shows the audience that they are close.

The camera then dissolves onto a long shot of an old and big building, here we see Casey walking towards it, it's dark and cold outside. We hear a doctor talking over this shot saying 'one iris is a different colour than the other, which happens when occasionally you are dealing with twins'. The camera dissolves from the shot of the building to an extreme close up of Casey's eye. Here we see that it's half blue half green. Casey replies to the doctor saying 'I am the only child', the camera is on her, and the audience sees the confusion on her face. All of this will signal to the audience that maybe Casey isn't the only child, this is a very big clue being given away.

The lighting in these shots are quite dim, coming from the lamp in the room, creating a more realistic feel. We also hear the non-diegetic piano still playing in the background creating the mood of edginess. The camera then fades onto a black screen, we hear one  heavy bass drum beat that sounds like a heart beat and  then a medium long shot of Casey appears on the screen, she is in the middle on the city at broad day light, she takes off her sun glasses and the camera cuts to a point of view shot, a ghost of a boy standing across the road. We hear a quiet swoosh and he then suddenly disappears. Camera cuts to a medium close up of Casey's face, showing her reaction to what she just saw, but before we see any sort of fright in her eyes we hear 'Hey, you alright?'. Camera cuts to a long shot of Casey standing there with her boyfriend casually standing next to her.
The screen goes black, we hear a second single heart beat, the camera cuts to a medium close up, over the shoulder shot of Casey standing in her dads office saying 'Am I a twin dad?', camera cuts to her dad who says 'he died when you two were still in the womb', camera cuts onto a reaction shot of Casey, who looks annoyed and let down that she wasn't told. By this point the audience are starting to guess that the boy she saw across the road is her dead brother, the audience now know that things are about to get scary.

Camera fades out into a black screen, we hear 'your mother never told you' camera fades in to a medium shot of Casey having coffee with her grandmother, the light is very dim, and the only light in the room is coming from the window, creating a realistic feeling, the camera cuts to a close up of an old photograph of a little boy and girl, the boy looks like the one that Casey saw across the road from her. The girl doesn't look familiar. By this point the audience are sensing that something horrible is going to happen.



The camera dissolves onto a long shot from a higher angle of Casey standing by a grave stone, this signals to the audience that it is her dead brothers grave. We hear her grandmother carrying on her sentence of 'Your mother never told you' and says 'but I knew'. Camera dissolves onto a long shot of Casey sitting in some sort of old garage, it's dark and we hear a 'swoosh' sound, camera cuts to a close up of Casey getting old projector tapes out of a bag, camera cuts to a close up of Casey's hand switching on the projector, camera then cuts to the projector light. We then see the camera cut to an over shoulder view of Casey watching the tape, in front of her is a big projector screen which is playing a home movie which displays Casey, her mum and dad on a spinning swing. Over these shots we hear Casey's grandmother speaking 'by living, you denied it entry into our world', camera cuts to a medium close up of Casey's face which is filled with confusion and fear. At this point the audience now know that her dead brother is coming back for revenge because she stopped him from living, it becomes predictable that he will haunt her.

We then see a long shot of a black and white, dark and old corridor, the camera slowly moves towards a door, we hear another heart beat, it sounds more intense, we also hear a scream and eerie sounds. The audience become more scared as the trailer started to look a lot more dark and scary.

The camera cuts to a close up of Casey's face, she looks horrified with her mouth wide open, we hear more screams in the background and it's dark in the room, signalling she is seeing something horrible. The camera then has very fast cutting, we see a very dark close up of the ghost of the little boy, it then cuts to a medium shot of him, and he is black and white, signalling that wherever he is, it was a very long time ago, camera then cuts to a medium shot of the boy in colour, his clothes is dark blue, we hear ambient sound which is eerie and loud, camera cuts onto a black screen. Audience now know that the boy is her brother and that he has come back to haunt her.

Camera cuts to a close up of Casey's face, he eyes are closed, the sound is eerie and sounds like it's under water, the camera is rotating upside down, and we see Casey open her eyes and see herself asleep in bed, she gasps. The screen goes blank, we hear a loud heart beat and Casey appears on the screen laying on which looks like the ceiling, her arms are tens and she looks like shes about to scream, camera cuts onto a bird eye view of her in bed asleep, camera cuts again onto a close up shot of her laying on the ceiling, she starts screaming but we cannot hear it. Camera cuts onto the bird eye view shot of her sleeping in bed, the duvet starts moving down without anyone pulling it, camera cuts to a close up of Casey screaming, its cuts again to her in the bed with the duvet still going down, we hear a scream, and see the ghost boy laying under the duvet with his hand on Casey's stomach, camera cuts onto a closer shot of the boy who is looking straight into the camera, giving it even more of a fear factor. Again the camera cuts onto a medium close up of Casey screaming from the ceiling trying to break free, camera cuts to a close up of Casey's eye, it opens, we hear loud stabbing sound, a scream and then a bass guitar beat starting to play as the camera cuts onto a strap which says 'From the producer Michael Bay'.

 

The camera cuts onto a medium shot of Casey looking out her window at night, over the shot we hear Casey saying 'do you think it's possible to be haunted by someone who wasn't even born?'. Camera then cuts onto a point of view shot of the ghost of the boy standing outside in the cold winter night, its a siluette of him and the camera zooms in on the boy. This shows that Casey can see him standing outside and the audience now see that she knows that he is haunting her and she is scared. Camera cuts to a medium close up of Casey's friend, we hear Casey carrying on her sentence of 'do you think it's possible to be haunted by someone who wasn't even born', camera cuts to a close up of Casey, she looks frightened, the camera then cuts to an over shoulder view of Casey in what looks like a public toilet, she is looking in the mirror, camera cuts to a close up of her face, it then cuts to a medium close up of the ghost boy in the dark with his mouth open ready to shout, he looks angry. The editing gets faster in the trailer now, after the shot of the boy, the camera cuts to a close up of Casey being dragged, she is screaming, it then cuts to a wall that has been broken and has some sort of weird creature hands, many of the trying to get thru, the camera cuts to a lower angle, close up of the hands, Casey is in the shot and she looks like she is trying to grab something to hit the hands. The lighting in these past shots have gotten a lot darker, and the editing has sped up, creating anticipation and giving the audience a bigger fear factor because the horrific imaginary has began to appear on the screen.

The camera cuts to another strap 'and David S.Goyer', the music stopped, we hear an eerie heart beat, 'The Co Writers of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight' appear on the screen. The camera then cuts to an over Casey's shoulder view of her sitting in an office, with a man sitting behind the desk and Casey saying 'what's happening to me is real'. This suggests that in the film people may think she has gone insane. Camera then cuts to a medium long shot of Casey standing in a dark room looking over her shoulder, she is in a white pair of knickers and a white vest (which is what she is wearing in the film poster, creating a symbiotic link).

 We see a bright quick flash appear on the screen and what sounds like a thunder storm bang, camera then cuts to a long shot of an old building in the night, this sets the location of where the next shot is taken. Camera then cuts to long shot of Casey's therapist that was sitting behind the desk at the time that Casey said 'what happening to me is real. He is standing in some sort of stage room, it is dark. He shouts 'Get out of here!', camera cuts to a close up of a dog with face of a man, but has no eye balls, it's just black holes, the lighting used here is top lighting, making the dog creature even more scary. Camera cuts to a medium close up of the therapist shouting 'GO!', he looks very angry. By this point the audience now know that the therapist must know what Casey really is being haunted as he just saw a dog that is wearing some sort of mask.

 

We the see the camera cut to a medium close up of Casey saying 'it's not safe to be around me' to her best friend, her eyes are tearing up, camera cuts to Casey's friend who looks very upset'. We then see a medium long shot of Casey in a dark house walking down the stairs, camera cuts to a worm eye view of someone standing on top of the stairs shining a flash light down stairs, camera cuts, we hear a loud stab, and see at the bottom of the stair an old man on his all fours but his arms and legs are twisted, he is wearing a hospital gown, he starts to crawl up the stairs, the light is shining in his face and his head starts rotating at 360 degrees, we hear the eerie sound get louder, and then it completely stops, the old man is still on the screen. We hear a ringing noise, camera cuts to a black screen. We then hear Casey saying 'how do I stop it?' A medium close up of Casey comes up on the screen, it's dark and we can only see her face, camera then cuts to a long shot of an old church, setting the location for the next shots.

The audience now know that Casey is going to a church for help, it's predictable that she will turn to God when things just got unbearable. We see a close up of a fold up bed being unfolded, camera cuts to an extreme long shot of the church from the inside, we see two torches shining light around, camera cuts to a priest recording himself with a camera and saying 'this is the video record of the attempted exorcism of Casey Belvum. Camera cuts to a medium shot of Casey walking into the big room with her therapist and boyfriend walking behind her. Camera then cuts onto the video camera recording the exorcism, camera cuts to a higher angler medium shot of Casey laying her head back onto the fold out bed, she looks very anxious. The room itself has gotten a little lighter, there is ambient light coming from the windows and things almost look promising for Casey.

Camera cuts to medium shot of Casey's therapist taking his jacket of and saying 'are you sure you want to go through with this?' with a reacting shot of Casey nodding her head. Camera cuts to a medium shot of a door, we hear it being banged, camera cuts to a medium shot of an old woman jumping from the bang, camera cuts back to Casey laying on the fold out bed replying to the therapist and saying 'I just want this to be over'. Because of the random shot of the old woman and the door quickly cutting in between the two shots of Casey, it signals the audience that something may go wrong.

Camera cuts to a bird eye view shot of Casey strapped to the bed, and the people that are there surrounding her in a circle holding pieces of paper. It's dark and by the looks of it the only light being given now is from the big light torches that are surrounding Casey and the people around her. The camera cuts to a shot from the bottom of the stairs where that old woman got a fright from the bang of the door, the door slams open, camera cuts to a higher angle shot of Casey on the bed and the lights that are around being switched on, they are very very bright, the camera cuts to a close up of one of the lights being turned on, it then cuts to a reaction shot of the therapist, he gasps from how bright the lights are, we hear a stab sound, and then an eerie ringing sound, camera cuts to medium long shot of Casey's boyfriend shutting his eyes, Casey's head is in the frame, we see a tilt shot where the camera slowly moves towards Casey who's got something strapped around her mouth, she squirms from the bright light, shot dissolves to a strap of 'This January'.  Here the audience know that something drastic will happen, the editing will become very fast and go from cut to cut very quickly, it's also obvious that a lot of jumpy moment will happen after this strap because the editing here drastically slowed down, the tilt shot became slow motion and the sound was an eerie ring, conventionally this is where a massive bang happens and editing becomes very fast.

The strap dissolves onto an under  lighting, medium close up of an old woman, she is holding a torch which is shining from under her face, everything behind her is dark, the eerie ring is still going until we hear a loud bang and the face of the ghost boy appears behind her, his mouth is wide open making him look like he is about to shout.

From this stage on we see continuous editing, the shots cut each second. After the old woman shot the camera cross cuts to a long shot of a man being thrown across the room and the same shot is shown from a different angle, the next cut is a close up of a mirror being smashed, the camera then cuts to a medium close up of Casey screaming, it then cuts to the ghost boy turning his head around, then cuts to a body that was laying down under a sheet sitting up, then to a medium close up of the therapist, then to the old man that we saw at the end of the stairs crawling down the hall way with his head rotating and limbs twisted, then to a dark hall way with two people who's faces you cannot see running away from something, the music is more intense and fast, camera cuts to a strap 'he wants to be born now'. Camera cuts to a bird eye medium shot of Casey's boyfriend on the floor he is moving in slow motion, a cut again of the priest punching something in slow motion, his eyes look possessed, camera cuts to Casey and her boyfriend leaning against a wall and the priest breaking the wall and dragging Casey's boyfriend through it, Casey screams. A lower angle shot is here seen of someone running through a glass door, camera cuts to a higher angle shot of someone running up the stairs, it's dark, camera cuts to a close up of the ghost boy sitting up and a white sheet falling from his body, camera cuts to medium shot of the therapist struggling whilst objects are flying around the room, camera cuts to a medium shot of Casey running through the door and sliding on the floor, it then cuts to a dark bathroom with one of the cubicle doors open, we hear Casey's best friend scream 'somebody help me!' camera cuts to a person wearing a raincoat with it's hood up, we can't see the face, it then cuts to a shot of Casey's best friend crawling up the stairs and the person in the rain coat walking towards her, camera cuts to a knife that the person is holding meaning that he will kill her, it then cuts to a close up, higher angle view of the priest screaming with rage, his eyes bright blue even though he is a black man, this showing us he is possessed.

 

Camera then cuts to a long shot of two girls laying on beds with eyes closed and wearing the same clothes as each other, camera cuts to a long shot of Casey screaming in the shower and the creepy monster hands sticking out from the wall, camera cross cuts to a closer look from a different angle of this shot, Casey's mouth is wide open, camera cuts to the fold up bed flying towards the camera, then cuts to a long shot of Casey's boyfriend being dragged up in the air, the music gets louder, faster and more intense, camera cuts to Casey's best friend in a car gasping, then cuts to a hall way and Casey running down it, then to the man with the raincoat raising his arm to stab Casey's friend, then cuts to Casey screaming, then to a woman on the floor having a fit, then we hear a loud stab and the screen goes white.

All of these shots being edited so fast is called continuous editing, it's normally seen by the end of the trailer, it starts of slow to tell the audience a story and when the story has been told the trailer gets faster and faster until it drastically stops just like it did here, normally the title of the film comes after and then the trailer carries on slowly again, then we will see a sting. All of this is done to build up excitement and fear in the audience which is done very well and its a very common convention for horror film trailers.

On the white screen we then see 'The Unborn' appear on the screen, the music has stopped, we now are starting to hear the eerie heartbeat and sounds playing in the background. The camera cuts to another shot of the dark, old hallway we saw at the beginning of the trailer, the camera then cuts to a long shot of Casey entering one of the rooms in the church, it then cuts to a split second of a doorway of the room, the room looks very dark and only has ambient lighting coming from a window, shot fades onto a lower angle shot of Casey walking towards something, we hear the heart beat sound, the camera cuts to a door, then cuts to a blank white wall, then cuts to a long shot of an empty room with a person tied up to a chair with their head down and back facing the door way.  Lighting is ambient coming from the three windows in front of the person. We hear the heart beat, camera slowly zooms closer to the woman on the chair, we see a close up of Casey walking towards the chair, she says 'ma?', Casey kneels down in front of the woman, puts her hand on her shoulder and BANG! the woman quickly looks up screaming, we hear a loud stabbing sound and Casey screams, screen goes white then cuts back to the shot, the woman's face looks like a rotten skeleton, he mouth slowly opening and Casey is on the floor screaming, then the screen with all the names of producers and writers appears on the screen and the trailer ends.

The last part of the trailer scared me like hell, and I did have to mute it before I even thought of watching it, but I did, and I can honestly say that it frightened the life out of me.
I believe this trailer is successful as a horror film trailer, it has all the important elements to it, the costumes in the trailer are all quite plain and dark clothing, the make up is simple and natural, the lighting is mostly dark or extremely light which is dramatic, its never 'normal', the mise-en-scene elements are spot on and the trailer perfectly signals that it's a horror film.
I wouldn't say that writers or actors are really used as a way of luring in audiences because the main actress for example isn't that famous, and the writers wrote films like batman and the dark knight, both not horror films but on the other hand I don't think they needed to lure in audiences like that because they did a good job with just making a scary trailer.
The way the trailer was set out was very conventional, most horror trailers if not all of them start of slow, get faster and faster, then suddenly stop, go slow and have a sting. But it's done very effectively which I believe is good.
A lot of the sound heard was non-diegetic as most of it was music and dialog but it made sense as the dialog that was heard was brief and simple.
The strap 'he wants to be born now' has a symbiotic link both with the film poster as it's the strap on that as well as the trailer and the little boy says it in the begging of the trailer, and symbiotic links keep the audience familiar with the film.
This trailer did inspire me with my own as it used very good shots of the little boy, making him very creepy which is definitely something that I want to do with my own trailer.