Film Trailer Analysis 2

“Halloween”

“Halloween” is one of the most recognised slasher movies to date that is very powerful in luring in its target audience through implementing the codes and conventions of slasher films very effectively. Rob Zombie, the films director, uses a very typical narrative for slasher movies with this film with the main killer escaping from a mental institution where he unleashes chaos on an area where he once lived whilst searching for his sister. Straight away the dark and evil nature of the film is indicated to the target audience as the prominent strap lines are shown with the words, “inside every one of us, there is a dark side” with the diagetic sound being used with the voice over which adds to the dark representation. The voice over is deep, and very blunt which does signify happiness but distress and grave danger and this is accurately portrayed to the target audience. The strap lines immediately give out an evil and dangerous representation of the film which is effective when trying to lure in the target audiences attention.

The location is then shown which is a very typical technique used in slasher film trailers where their appears to be a relatively large house and the action immediately cuts inside where the atmosphere appears dim and evil. Slasher movie lovers can immediately relate to this sort of location as it is a very common convention. Another signal used to indicate the sub genre to the target audience is where the knife appears from the drawer in the house with the distinctive sound occurring as it is drawn which yet again is going to intrigue the target audience. The narrative structure of the trailer is very clear and becomes very apparent as the trailer goes on where throughout there are victims getting killed by a psychopathic killer but it omits the reasoning for this ferocious slashing and leaves question marks for the audience about this killers motives and also about the victims themselves as not to much is given away by the director which is going to lure in the target audience further. The structure is however very conventional for a slasher movie as being a member of the target audience and a slasher movie lover you don’t want to be given too much information about the narrative as you want to get more from the film itself and its terror which can be illuminated if the trailer is not effective nevertheless the structure of this trailer is very effective in adding the sense of mystery, darkness and grave danger.

Throughout watching the trailer the audience can pick up on the effective use of mis-en-scene elements that further intrigue the target audience. The use of colour and lighting in this trailer is very strong and distinctive as the entire trailer appears relatively dark and dim which almost no sunlight which gives off a very clear impression about the film itself being dark and dangerous where light acts almost as a way out in contrast to the darkness representing great evil. At the end of the trailer when the house is shown yet again from a medium-long shot there is light outside and the girl appears to try and get out only to be pulled back into the darkness of the house by the ferocious killer which is very effective in creating tension and further intrigue for the target audience. At the start of the trailer for about the first minute the shots are very strategic in that the audience cannot gain a clear representation of the characters due to the shots not showing their facial expressions which makes it harder for the audience to understand the characters within. 24 seconds into the trailer the shot of the character pulling the knife out from the kitchen cupboard is shown where there is a clear pull focus on the knife as the director wants the audience to understand the brutal nature of the film with this weapon being used to devastating effect. Half a minute into the trailer the horror becomes evident as there are brief shots through quick editing showing the killer in a mask with the prolific weapon evidently slaying their victims which is very conventional among slasher movie trailers where an insight to the horrifying nature of the film is indicated. This is followed by the trailer slowing down yet again as another situation unfolds before the girl realises she’s in danger from the killer and screams where yet again the editing speeds up. This is effectively used by the director as it keeps grabbing the audience’s attention and focused on the trailer. The girls in the trailer featured appear to be relatively young with long hair and attractive to members of the target audience which is a common technique used in slasher movies to keep the male members of the audience interested so therefore they are common victims in slasher films.

About 45 seconds into the trailer the strap line of “pure evil” appears as the voice over continues where in the background the mask of the killer is shown in the darkness which is an interesting technique as you can relate the strap line to the killer easier and further add horror to this psychopathic character. After this, the film unravels a lot more for the target audience as the voice over that is featured throughout the trailer appears to be the psychopathic killer as this becomes clearer in the trailer as it goes on. The killer is shown putting on his mask and then shown with its blank expression of evil which is very effective in giving the audience a clearer representation of this traumatic killer. The cutting goes on from here to become very quick as the killer is identified to the audience so some of the events in which the killer is involved in become apparent towards the end of the trailer. For example the killer appears to take a girl from a car and also carry one away into the darkness where the poor girl’s fate seems inevitable as the personality of this psychopathic killer becomes all the more interesting to the target audience. There are constant flashes in the trailer that show not just one but many young girls being either killed or taken and the tension increases throughout the trailer. Right near the end of the trailer, at about 70 seconds, there is a very clever shot which shows the killer behind the unaware, innocent girl who is seemingly showering as she appears half naked in the house. Then right at the end of the trailer once the film name has been announced through the strap line there is a still shot of the house for about 3 seconds. Tension is very high at this point as there is no sound when suddenly the young girl featured in the shot half naked appears trying to escape before the killer pulls her bag into the house. The director has linked the shots very well and the audience can appreciate the horror in which the victims are in for through shots like these. The small element of nudity is also going to further intrigue the male members of the target audience as combining young, attractive women with violence and horror is going to grab their attention very effectively.

There is a strong use of non diagetic sound throughout the trailer as there is a voiceover of a male voice which is deep and husky which is very effective in creating tension and that element of evil. This voiceover mainly applied to the strap lines which featured throughout the trailer although there was background music in which didn’t have much of an impression towards the beginning of the trailer although as the trailer went on the music became more immanent where the sound gave the impression of evil lurking around every corner. There is the common exaggerated use of sound which is frequent in slasher movies as the knife is drawn during the beginning of the trailer, which is effective in raising the audience’s awareness of the knife and understand the horror and danger it brings to the film. About a minute into the trailer the killer is represented for the first time very clearly in its mask and the voiceover changes to what appears to be the killers’ creepy voice. The sound is non diagetic although the sound was very relevant to the scene in the trailer and effective to a large extent as the representation of the killer is getting further built on so the target audience can understand the horrific nature of this killer through hearing its voice and being able to get a clear representation of the killer. You could argue that too much is given away of the killers’ representation as its appearance has been shown and voice is seemingly correlated to the scene nevertheless the ruthless nature of the killer still leaves question marks as the trailer didn’t give much away about the narrative itself, it only showed very brief clips of the killer in action but no explanation of these ruthless murders which is going entice the target audience.

The editing compliments the narrative structure of the film itself being a mixture of fast paced and slow edits that compliment the trailer and add elements of tension and horror combined with the strong use of diagetic sound from the girls in agony screaming throughout the trailer.

Through watching the trailer throughout you can gain an appreciation for how the director has used the different cuts at different points. The shots are shown for longer when the director wants the audience to understand part of the location which is effective for setting the scene such as 18-22 seconds into the trailer where the cuts are slow as you can see the house and the girl in her room. This contrasts later in the trailer where the killer starts getting ferocious and his movements are quicker as he seemingly murders his victims. The fast paced edits are in conjunction with these apparent murders which is effective in not giving too much away to the audience but also adding a new dimension of fear for them. Half a minute into the trailer, there is a shot of the killer approaching a young girl sitting down from behind and as he attacks her with three quick movements the cuts correspond to this with three quick cuts as well as the non diagetic sound adding three distinctive noises. This is a very strong technique combining these elements because it adds tension, a great sense of danger and horror to the trailer and is therefore going to grab the audience’s attention further. The camera use is very effective when focusing on the murder weapon being the knife as there are two significant pull focus’ which want to stand out to the target audience with one being right before an attack, which is clever as the knife seemingly ‘tells the story’ of what horror is going to unfold next. 54 seconds into the trailer the camera unveils the killer from a close up shot from a still camera shot which adds the element of evil and danger to the killers’ representation. Before this was a slight low angle shot of the killer from a mid shot range which yet again gives the impression of power to the killer and shows the target audience that the killer is in control in this film.

In conclusion to the “Halloween” trailer you can clearly see that it has implemented all the significant conventions of a slasher movie and to a very powerful extent. The codes and conventions are followed through the implementation of quality techniques which give off the impression of fear and terror. The narrative structure of the film is reflected very clearly in the trailer itself, being a fast paced, action packed movie where a psychopathic, ferocious killer seeks revenge. Through analysing the poster, I believe the use of sound and editing is the greatest compliment to the trailer and the most powerful in enticing and grabbing the audience’s attention. The strong voice over’s used throughout the trailer are conventions of slasher movies but not to common due to the fact that they sometimes can hinder the trailers performance although in the trailer the technique is used very powerfully and effectively. It adds that extra dimension to the trailer which keeps the audience focused on the trailer as the voice over’s relate very clearly to the action in the trailer. The use of camera in the trailer is also very effective, especially with the way in which it focused on specific elements such as the location and the weapon to really give the target audience a horrifying and deadly representation of the situation of the film which it gave to great extent.