Thriller Trailer Analysis 3 - Disturbia

POWTOON VIDEO - DISTURBIA ANALYSIS

Powtoon was a video presentation software for me to use, it was an easy programme to operate and produced good results. However one major downside is that the video plays too quickly and you have to pause it to be able to read all of the information.

Thriller Trailer Analysis 2 - Identity

Film Overview

• The film focuses on ten strangers that get stuck at a motel during a storm, they become acquainted with each other once they realise that they are being killed off one by one.

Genre

• There are many things which hints towards the genre of the film during the Identity trailer. 
• The first one which is apparent to the audience is the setting the events take place in. It shows a motel in the middle of nowhere and it appears to be very creepy, cut off and isolated from the rest of civilisation. 
• The weather also emphasises this chosen setting as it is heavily raining and stormy. The fact that there is a large storm reinforces the idea that these strangers are isolated as all the roads are blocked from flooding, meaning that there really is no escaping. 
• The weather also means that it is all set in very low key lighting as well which is one of the conventions of a thriller genre as it creates more tension and suspense.

• Throughout the trailer non-diegetic repetitive, creepy music is used to create tension and fear. The pitch of this music increases when the events suddenly start to go wrong which means the fear is heightened. 
• Other sounds are also used to reinforce the thriller genre, for example screams and shouts are used without explanation to cause confusion and mystery, especially as it encourages the audience to question why this is happening. 
• A large variety of close ups and medium close ups of the characters are used to express their emotions and show the tension, pain and confusion that they are experiencing.

• The final thing which helps highlight the genre is the editing. The trailer frequently uses fast paced cutting in order to fit a lot of the action of the film in without leaving it on screen too long to spoil anything. This also helps to encourage people to see the film as they can see a variety of things that happen and then they can make a decision as to whether they would want to see it. 
• The use of fading and blurring also does this as it causes confusion and mystery amongst the viewers.

Narrative

• The events shown in the trailer are not in the films chronological order, however the clever use of editing allows it to appear in a linear order as it sets out the storyline in an effective structure and gives the audience an idea what the film will be about. 
• From the trailer the viewer can tell that it will be about strangers who get stranded at a motel together as the roads are all flooded and someone is trying to kill them off and strange things keep occurring, for example the dead bodies disappearing. 
• At the beginning of the trailer one of the characters is telling the story and says "There was a storm" suggesting that these events took place in the past, which reveals that it is in fact not in chronological order. 
• A commentary is also shown on screen throughout the trailer to help tell the story and plant more questions in the viewers mind. This reinforces the idea of the story being told through the characters speech. 

Representation

• The first character that we see is the one that is telling the story in past tense, this could suggest that he is being represented as the only survivor as it is clear he is the only one shown after the events have taken place. 
• The fact that the survivor is a man is very stereotypical as they are usually represented as the heroes or the stronger gender. 
• The woman that has been in an accident is being represented as vulnerable as she has been badly injured, the man carrying her is being shown as strong and brave because he's looking after her and trying to save her. This could link to Propps theory as he is being portrayed as the stereotypical hero. 

• The next woman that is shown, in the red jacket is also being portrayed as vulnerable and dependent as her car has broken down and she is relying on a man for help. This could also be related back to Propps theory as she is the stereotypical damsel in distress. 

• The officer is of a large build and is represented as quite strong, independent and masculine the first time the audience see's him. 

• In comparison to this, the woman who refuses to stay at the motel appears to be snobby, rich and arrogant, which is also one of the stereotypical characters that you see in horror and thriller genre films. 

• The first person we see get killed in the trailer happens to be a woman which is very stereotypical in a film like this as compared to the men in these films they come across as weak, dependent and pathetic. 

Thriller Trailer Analysis 1 - Horns

Keywords and Significant People in Movie Trailer History

Nils Granlund 

• Nils T. Granlund was born in Sweden in 1882
• Married to Rose Wenzel 
• He was a Swedish American Broadway show producer, radio industry pioneer and Actor 
• Was best known for Rhythm Parade, Beauty on Broadway and Take it Big 
• He is important in the history of the movie trailer as he produced the first ever promotional film for the Broadway show Pleasure Seekers
• This featured actual rehearsal footage
• He died on April 21, 1957 in Las Vegas, USA. 

William Nicholas Selig

• Col William Selig was born in Chicago, USA in 1864
• He was a pioneer of the American motion picture industry 
• He was responsible for a lot of firsts including; the first American movie serial with a cliffhanger ending
• The print serial "The Adventures of Kathleen" was adapted by him into a film version - however it was the second print serial to be made
• Every week the story would continue in the Chicago Tribune.
• William Selig died on July 15, 1948. 

Alfred Hitchcock

• Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Essex, England on August 13, 1899
• He was an English film director and producer 
• Often nicknamed the "Master of Suspense"
• Was named the most influential film maker of all time
• He moved to Hollywood in 1939 and became a US citizen in 1955
• His career spanned 6 decades and included more than 50 feature films that he directed 
• Stylistic trademarks included the use of camera movement to give the impression of the point of view of a person's gaze
• Alfred framed shots to maximise their anxiety, fear and suspense potential 
• Used innovative forms of editing for the time
• Most of the films he created include plot twist endings and exciting plots featuring murder and various forms of violence
• Alfred Hitchcock became an incredibly well known public figure through large amounts of interviews, movie trailers, cameo appearances in his own films and 10 years presenting his television series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" 
• In 1960 he directed "Psycho" and the trailer turned out to be a 6 and 1/2 minute tour of the house and motel from Alfred Hitchcock himself
• Alfred Hitchcock died on April 29, 1980 in California, USA.

Stanley Kubrick

• Stanley Kubrick was born in New York on July 26, 1928
• He was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and photographer
• Kubrick's films are considered to be some of the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century 
• Also said to be one of the best and most influential directors of all time
• Most of his films are adaptation's of novels or short stories
• In his time he covered a wide variety of different genres, all of which are largely credited for their unique cinematography, set design, attention to detail, realism, dark humour and suggestive use of music
• All that Stanley knew about film production and directing was self taught after he graduated form high school 
• He moved to the UK in 1961, where he spent the remainder of his career
• The first two British films he made were with Peter Sellers - Lolita and Dr. Strangelove
• As Stanley was a very demanding perfectionist he took on most aspects of the film making process including; directing, writing and even editing
• He always took extra care with researching the film, scene set up and camera work
• Working incredibly closely with the actors behind the scenes he became infamous for demanding several retakes of the same scene which largely resulted in conflict between him and other people on set
• His films broke new ground with cinematography, especially his 2001 film "A Space Odyssey" 
• This was a science fiction film that won an Oscar - Academy Award for Visual Effects
• In his adaptation of the novel "The Shining" he was the first director to use a steadicam for stable tracking shots
• Stanley Kubrick died on March 7, 1999 in St Albans.

Don LaFontaine

• Donald Leroy LaFontaine is an American voice actor born on August 26, 1940 in Minesota, USA
• In his time as a voice actor, he recorded around 5,000 film trailers and thousands of television adverts, video game trailers and network promotions
• His phrase became "In a world..." which has been used in multiple movie trailers - so much so that it has become a cliché in the industry
• He had a wide variety of nicknames, the most popular one's included; "Thunder Throat" and "The Voice of God"
• He claimed that he was able to do around 80 voice acting jobs in a day
• When he was alive, he was in the voice acting career for 40 years
• His voice suddenly cracked mid sentence when he was 13 years old - he was very self concious of this until his classmates at school would pay him to call the school and pretend to be their dad's to call in sick on their behalf 
• His first professional voice work came when he was working on "The Gunfighters of Casa Grande"  - he filled in for a voice actor in a radio promo
• After school he went to the army and learned about recording engineering
• The first promo that he engineered was "Dr. Strangelove"
• He died on September 1, 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Serials

• Serials can either be print or non-print publications. They are issued in parts, usually bearing issue numbers and/or dates. A serial is typically expected to continue indefinitely.

The Chicago Tribune

• The Chicago Tribune was a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States
• It is owned by the Tribune Publishing Company and was founded in 1847
• Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" it still remains the most read-daily newspaper of the Chicago Metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region
• Furthermore it is currently the 8th largest newspaper in the United States in terms of circulation
• The newspaper was originally published as a broadsheet, however on January 13, 2009 the Tribune announced that it would continue publishing as a broadsheet for home delivery, but would publish in tabloid format for newsstands, news box's and commuter station sales
• By August 2011 this change proved to be unpopular with it's readers and they decided to discontinue the tabloid edition, returning to it's traditional format through all methods of distribution
• One of the main noticeable features of the Tribune is the fact that the masthead displays the American flag, in conjunction with the paper's motto; "An American Paper for Americans"
• However this is no longer displayed on the masthead, where it once was below the flag.

Cliffhanger

• A cliffhanger is a dramatic and exciting ending to an episode of a serial, leaving the audience in suspense and anxious not to miss the next episode scheduled to air.

Distribution 

• Distribution includes the action of sharing something out amongst a large number of recipients 
• In terms of media it might include digital distribution which is the delivery of media content such as audio, video, software and video games.

Institutions

• A media institution is a organisation or company that is either publicly or privately owned and produces or distributes media products.

National Screen Service (NSS)

• The National Screen Service (NSS) was a company that was formed in 1920 to produce and distribute movie trailers on behalf of movie studios 
• Around the 1940's the NSS signed exclusive contracts with all major movie studios to produce and distribute posters and other paper advertising materials
• With the 1970's came the development of multiplexes meaning that the amount of advertising space available for a given movie dropped
• This largely reduce the need for a separate organisation to control poster distribution and movie studios took back these responsibilities and as a result the NSS shrank
• Around this time they also faced a large amount of competition from other producers such as; Fimack and Pike Productions
• Ultimately in September 2000 the Nation Screen Service was bought out by Technicolor Inc.

Multiplexes

• A multiplex cinema is a movie theatre that has numerous screens within a single complex, or specific and specially designed building
• Multiplexes were introduced in 1970 and allowed movie theatre's to provide entertainment on a larger scale. 

Wide Release

• Wide release is a term used to describe a motion picture that is playing nationally as opposed to only showing in a few cinema's in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles
• In America it is considered a wide release when it is showing in 600 or more theatre's
• In 1975, Jaws was the first successful film to have a wide release - It opened in 464 theatres in June 25, 1975 and expanded to 675 a month later.

 

The History of the Film Trailer

Pixels trailer with "We Will Rock You" 

Mission Impossible trailer with "Whole Lotta Love"

Sources of Information:

https://thedissolve.com/features/exposition/241-becoming-attractions-a-brief-history-of-film-trail/
http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/culture/film/214473-epic-history-movie-trailers-mad-max-independence-day
http://filmmakeriq.com/2014/03/the-history-of-the-movie-trailer/
http://www.slideshare.net/Marinawhitney/history-of-film-trailers-27889726?related=2

Purpose of a Film Trailer

A trailer is used to promote a film to it's audience before it is released in the cinema, they will usually consist of a series of different shots and dialogue. If a film trailer is successful it will attract the target audience and cause excitement, encouraging them to see it once it comes out. The trailer will most likely show glimpses of the most funny, thrilling and noteworthy moments of the film, without revealing any spoilers. When trailers are produced and released, the creators hope to draw people in so they can make as much money as possible from viewings once it is in the cinema. 

Intertextuality