Jouvan's textual analysis of an existing teaser trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSHEYVGaWok

I analysed the film ‘The Woman in Black’ for my poster analysis and decided to use the same film for my teaser trailer analysis. I used the same film for two of my textual analysis’s because I wanted to keep a consistently throughout my planning and research textual analysis work. ‘The Woman in Black’ teaser trailer is 47 seconds in length therefore it follows teaser trailer conventions by lasting between 30 to 60 seconds.

The teaser trailer begins with two quick fade transitions shots which show the production and distribution logos of the companies featured in the film on a black background. Non-diegetic music is played at the beginning of the teaser trailer, this creates a terrifying atmosphere for the audience. The non-diegetic music uses haunting tones which adds to the terrifying atmosphere of the teaser trailer which builds tension and suspense for the viewers.

The teaser trailer fades to an establishing shot of a house. The house appears to be abandoned as there is overgrown grass on the house walls and garden, the abandoned appearance of the house could lead to one believing that the house is haunted. This assumption could provide viewers with insight on the type of sub-genre the horror film is associated with as most ghost films are set in or around abandoned houses. A tracking camera movement is used which makes the camera move closer to the house, while this is happening the caption ‘The most chilling story’ appears in a one word after the other sequence, the caption is in capitals and uses a sans serif font. The font is in grey which matches the ghost theme of the movie as grey connotes depression, moodiness and mysteriousness. The caption could persuade the viewers into seeing the film as it has been stated as the most chilling ghost story. Once all of the words of the caption are displayed the setting of house fades and is replaced by a black background

The black background and the caption fades to a close up camera angle of a white male from his forehead to his nose. The man cannot be seen clearly as the shot uses low key lightning, the low key lighting used forms a shadow on the right side of the man’s face. The use of the low key lighting brings curiosity to the viewers because the individual cannot be seen which makes him appear suspicious and mysterious. There is an evident theme used in the teaser trailer as the caption ‘Of our time’ uses the same sans serif font and word sequence as the previous caption. At this point of the teaser trailer the music beings to get louder, faster paced and there is more emphasis on the haunting tones. 

There is a fade to a black background with the caption ‘Comes to life’ which uses the same caption tecqunique and is a continuation of the previous captions. It then fades from the black background to an office setting where the shadowed man from the previous scene is seen spinning a lamp with his hand at a medium long shot camera angle. The character is dressed in a black blazer, waistcoat, tie, trousers and a white shirt, from the characters costume the audience can tell that the film is set in the early 20^th century as the character is wearing old fashioned clothing. The props found in the office are chairs, a sofa, a desk, candles and a lamp. Low key lighting is used in the shot which gives a creepy atmosphere to the teaser trailer. The characters non-verbal communication suggests that he is intrigued as he is focusing and looking down at a lamp.

The shot suddenly cuts to a medium close up of the character who bends down to examine the lamb and whilst he does so there is a tilt movement used which tilts down to follow the characters movement. During the time the character bends down the music previously used stops and is replaced by internal diegetic sound which uses a foley sound effect to make the sound of the lamp spinning become more clearer to hear and much more emphasized.

 The shot makes a quick cut to the inside of the lamb which spins around at a quick pace until a woman’s face can be spotted at the other side of the lamp. This frightens the audience as the shot of the woman is unexpected and startles them, this gives the audience a taste of what is to be expected in the film as it is the first glimpse of the antagonist in the film.

There is a quick cut of the character at a medium shot, the characters non-verbal communication suggests that he is frightened and shocked as he startles backwards and has his mouth open as if he is in shock. The shot is in a stairway which is odd as he was once in an office, this puts the audience at unease and at a confused state of mind. The lighting is mainly high key as it is well lit by a lamp on the wall however there is some low key lightning towards the back of the shot.

The shot then fades to a black background which shows the actors name, the caption however doesn’t follow the theme it did for the previous captions as it doesn’t display each word one after the other but displays the caption once. The music changes to a xylophone tone which is very slowed paced in comparison to the music used in the beginning of the teaser trailer, because the music is slow paced it builds suspense as the audience feel as if something is going to occur shortly.

The shot then fades to a medium close up of the character who is looking on the floor with his head bent down, the shot is taken from the characters right hand side. The speed of the music increases and a person’s hand quickly appears and touches the man on his shoulder. This entices the audience as they don’t know what happens next which persuades them to watching the film. The shot then fades to two shots which feature the horror film title caption and the caption ‘In cinemas soon’.