Research and Planning - Analysis 2

Analysis 2

GENRE

 The genre of this film trailer is horror, with a little bit of action thrown in. I can tell this trailer is of the horror genre due to the captions saying "what scares you most?" implying the film is going to be about fears and of a scary horror nature. This trailer fits with Carol Glover's theory that the final girl will be terrorised throughout the film, as the main character throughout the trailer, shown at the beginning, middle and end, is a girl who seems to be being terrorised by the monster in the film. This shows the trailer is of a horror nature, as this theory primarily applies to the horror genre. Andrew Sarris' theory that "genre is the idea that it has a recognisable style that draws on an existing audience" is also true of this trailer, as it has a recognisable horror style shown through the captions, lighting and over all clips in the trailer, which will draw on an existing audience, as it was created by the makers of Aliens and Terminator 2 and has a similar style to them whilst adding a larger element of horror to it.

REPRESENTATION

 I don't particularly believe that this trailer is shown through Laura Mulvey's suggested "Male gaze" as the hero of the trailer and main character is a strong independent and intelligent woman (shown through her being a computer scientist at the beginning and running away from fire at the end) who is not at all objectified. It shows the men to be the vulnerable ones, as they are the ones who fall victim to the monster in the trailer. Age is represented through the old woman worrying about the museum rather than trying to help fight the monster, suggesting a stereotype that all old women do is moan and complain. Although I believe this trailer breaks a lot of gender stereotypes through the things I've mentioned above, it also conforms to the stereotype of Police being a male profession, as all the police shown in the trailer are male.

NARRATIVE

The narrative is ultimately about the mutation of a human explorer who has become a monster who feeds on the hypothalmus of the human brain and is being kept in a storage box below the museum. He wakes up on the night of the human phobeas exhibition and tries to murderer everyone in the most grusome ways possible. The narative is shown through the selection of shots and scenes throughout the trailer, starting the in museum, then the science lab and working cronologically through the movie, giving the audience an impression of the narrative. The titles help to tell the narative a little, inferring it is about a persons biggest fear, as the titles read "what scares you most?". The narrative is also shown briefly through the short montage of clips in the trailer.

AUDIENCE

The trailer of the film has been approved as appropriate for all audiences, so anyone could potentially have viewed this film trailer on tv and at the start of other films they have gone to see at the cinema. Taking into account the overall movie was rated 'R' (where an under 17 is required to be with a concenting adult to view the movie), I believe the target audience would be 18 to 21 year old males, as steroetypically it is student aged males who predominantly enjoy the horror genre of film. The audience needs to be very active whilst watching the film as some of the psychological fear is locked behind an intricate plot and only if you follow and understand the plot does the film appear to get scarier - this suggests to be that it would be College and University students who are the audience of this film, as if they are intelligent enough to have progressed to College and University, then they are intelligent enough to be able to follow the plotline and work out some of the complex psychologically scaring parts of the film.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

Cinematography

Close ups of characters and zooms used to show facial expressions of realisation, shock and fear, instilling those emotions into the audience too. The mastershot of the Museum at the beginning sets the theme and tone for the entire trailer and film, as the audience now know where the trailer/film is set and the oldness of a museum (along with all the rare and often creepy artifacts) create anticipation and tension within the audience as their minds put forward possible plotlines the movie could follow. The camera pans on the inside of the museum also help to set the scene and re-affirm the location of the film. High angles are used to represent the weakness of the human race in comparison with the creature that is trying to attack them.

 

Editing

Fast straight cuts are used in conjuction with a montage to give a feel for the film to audience and also build suspense and anticipation within the trailer. Camera flashes are used as transitions within this trailer. Ttiles are also added to cause psychological fear to the audience as they ask "What scares you most?" making the audience think of their biggest primal fear and then associating that to the film, causing an increase in fear and tension. During the clips fading in and out of black the deigetic sound of the characters breath can be heard in time with the fades, adding suspense and tention to the trailer.

Sound

The eerie sounding non-deigetic music played over the opening of the trailer really sets the horror mood, immediately building suspense and tention. the diegetic sounds of lights suddenly shutting off along with screams from characters shown in the clips has the intention of making the audience jump and induce fear, as its of the horror genre.

Mise-en-scene

The museum and laboratory settings in the low key lighting looks eerie and immediately sets the scene for some sort of historical experiment to go wrong, or something hidden in the museum to wake up and be the key element in the horror movie - causing suspense as the audience think theyve worked out what is going to happen from the setting and now they are waiting tensely to see if they are correct. The big glasses worn by the female character represent her innocence and 'wide eyed' view of the world which is shattered when the moster begins to attack the museum she works in, as the trailer and movie progress her glasses are broken and removed, representing the change in the character and pivotal points in the film.