When watching this film trailer, I was able to recognise that the codes and conventions of film trailers have been followed. For example, the overall structure of the trailer has been conventionally pieced together allowing the audience to understand that it is a trailer. The trailer starts off slowly, setting the narrative, and introduced the audience to some of the characters. For example, we are presented with the two main characters at the start, as they are sitting by a tree; a mother and her daughter. They begin talking about a place that the daughter talks about in her sleep, and say that they are going to go there. This straight away lets the audience know that the film is going to be about a mysterious place that no one has ever been to before. As the trailer speeds up in pace, the audience gain a clearer understanding of the whole narrative as they see the daughter going missing and so on. By the end of the trailer, the audience have been presented with a vast range of eerie and scary shots in a fast paced climax found in any horror trailer towards the end, which then leads to a frightening sting (a final burst of action). By following this structure, not only does the audience gain understanding of the narrative, but also audience intrigue as there is a constant build up throughout leading to the sting.
21 seconds into the film trailer are the audience become aware of the genre of this film. This is because they are shown the mother driving her and her daughter to this mysterious place where the radio begins to lose signal when suddenly a little girl appears in the road. As the mother tries to turn the car to try and refrain from running over this little girl, she loses control and hits the girl. The audience are then shown that the girl’s body goes straight through the car and comes out fine at the other end, where we become aware that she is a ghost. Ghosts and eerie goings on are the conventions of a supernatural/ psychological horror so any horror film fans, and the target audience of this film, will be able to tell early on in the trailer what the genre is. Right the way through, there are other aspects suggesting the film’s genre such as the actual setting; the deserted and misty town, otherwise known as Silent Hill. Also, the straps we see in the trailer, such as “Fear without end” suggest that this is a horror film.
Codes and conventions such as mise en scene elements and sound are present in this trailer. Looking at sound, typical Diegetic and non Diegetic sounds have been featured, such as eerie music, screams and of course, dialogue. Sound effects such as stabs have been used to scare the audience and make them jump, for example, at the end of the film trailer, during the sting; a loud noise is played after silence making the audience feel unnerved and scared. Silence is another sound commonly used in film trailers as it creates an eerie and mysterious atmosphere and also builds tension and suspense. Conventionally, there are a number of straps used through the trailer, helping to aid audience understanding. For example, “secrets without explanation”; this strap reveals the fact that there are secrets and mystery’s that are going to be uncovered in this film. Conventions of supernatural horror films are also shown throughout this trailer such as the ghosts, eerie goings on, such as towards the end of the trailer, the mother is surrounded by some sort of creatures. By following codes and c0nventions of any media text, but in this case, a film trailer, you are allowing your target audience to be able to understand and recognise the genre of your film, letting those not so horror loving fans turn away, and those avid horror geeks to carry on watching. Also, by following conventions, audiences will be able to see what they are expecting and hoping to see, and also, able to be prepared for the scary parts, for example, they know that when the end is near, there is going to be something to make them jump and scream.
I am now going to be looking at how sound, editing and mise en scene elements help create audience understanding, how they build up tension and suspense, and how they are used to promote this film and at the same time, I will be looking at how these areas create excitement for the audience. Let us begin with sound;
At the beginning of the film trailer, whilst the narrative is being set, there is a gentle tune being played, like a guitar and a flute. This is used to set a calm and peaceful atmosphere, reflecting the calm and natural environment that they are currently sitting in. The low volume and slow speed of this tune allows the audience to be able to get a fuller understanding of what is going on, and are able to take more notice of the dialogue that they are also being presented with. You can also hear wind, and the rustling of grass which creates realism, but I also felt that this suggested some kind of spiritual presence, which wind is sometimes associated with. We can hear who we believe to be this little girl’s mother saying “Hunny, sometimes when you go to sleep you on a little walk, and sometimes you talk about a place”. Her tone is soft and calm, which is complemented by the music playing, and we are now aware that there is some kind of psychological issue with this young girl, and her sleepwalking. The little girl vulnerably replies by saying “I don’t remember” where the mother then says “that is why we are going to go there, so you can remember”. Now the audience are aware that something strange is happening to this little girl, and that she is talking about a place where she has never been in her sleep. From this dialogue, the audience are able to realise the psychological/ supernatural sub genre of this horror film. We are also aware now that this must be persistently happening to the young girl, enough for her mother to want to drive to this place, to check it out.
In the next part of the trailer, where the action is now taking place in car, the sound begins to get louder and an additional instrument, sounding like a piano, has been added to the previous piece of music being played. This suggests that they are getting closer to finding out more about the narrative as tension is now building and the audience will become excited in wanting to know where they are going and so on. as the scene moves on, the radio begins to lose signal and creates a crackling and high pitched tune. This adds to the tension and begins to create a sort of unsettling atmosphere for the audience as they become unnerved and on edge. As the mother tries to turn the radio off, the tune that was previously playing stops and all we can hear is this deafening high pitched sound coming from the radio. A dramatic stab sound is then played into the trailer as we see the daughter wake up in the back of the car. Action then cuts to what is happening in front of the car, where the mother and daughter begin to scream as they can see a girl walking in the middle of the road. The atmosphere now is panicked and confusing as the mother was trying to sort out the radio, as well as trying to drive, and looking round to see if her daughter was ok. As the mother tries to swerve the car, we, the audience are able to see this girl become ghostly, as the car moves straight through her. The next bit of sound that we can hear is the sound of tires skidding along a road, which is matched by the action on screen of the mother trying to regain control of her car. Suddenly we hear a crash, and the sound of glass break, where the audience can automatically become aware of the fact that the car has crashed.
Action then cuts to a dead black out, suggesting some sort of unconsciousness from crashing the car, where no sound is being played. Tension and suspense is now being built as we cut again to the mother in the car, with injuries, waking up. As she looks beside her, to see if her daughter is ok, a ghostly, loud sound is played, creating tension as the audience want to know if the little girl is ok. When she turns around to see her daughter is not there, the mother shouts “SHARON” three or four times, now left the car, running along the road asking for help, and trying to find her daughter. As she feels raindrops on her face, she looks up, to see black rain drops falling from the sky. This is accompanied by a one key sound being played on a piano reflecting the rain drops hitting the mother and the ground. This key becomes louder and louder and then becomes distorted as the mother looks up to the sign reading; ‘Silent Hill’. The one key noise stops, and then we hear a stab sound, as the sign changes into sepia colour and then cuts to a dead black out. The mother again screams her daughter’s name, this time echoing through the misty surrounding; suggesting a ghostly persona and that there is no one there to help her.
As the mother looks around this town, named Silent Hill, she is on the phone speaking to a male who we can see on screen. She says “Christopher, Sharon is gone, I need your help, I’m not ok, please, hurry”. The audience now begin to feel for the mother as she is distraught from losing her daughter, and calls for help from a man who we may assume to be the father/ husband. The way she just says this, and doesn’t wait for a reply suggests that she has had to leave a message, again making the audience feel for her, and suggesting that she is alone with no one there to even contact. Action then cuts to a framed picture of the mother, the daughter and the man, which allows the audience to become aware that he is her father.
When the strap appears on screen, a loud siren is being played which seems eerie and scary. we then hear the father say “a fire started, 30 years ago” then cutting to a flash back of a young girl followed by adults walking out of a burning building. This is followed with the sound of screams and loud, sharp noises, telling the audience that this was a catastrophic fire that had caused pain and maybe even, many deaths. As the action cuts to the mother outside, there is a loud screeching sound, similar to the sound we heard at the beginning when the mother crashed the car.
We then see a little girl, who looks like the daughter, and the ghost girl we previously saw. This noise suggests to the audience that this is the ghost girl, but as the mother see’s her and screams “Sharon”, the audience are then made to believe that this is the daughter. The noise is also very loud and sudden which grabs the audience’s attention straight away. During the next part of the trailer, we hear the mother asking “I don’t know what’s happening, do you know what is going on here?” looking at who seems to be some kind of police woman or detective. The woman replies by saying “this place is completely cut off”, which adds to the fear of the audience as they know are certain that this town is haunted and that the mother is not alone. As the trailer moves on, becoming faster as we are now leading up to the climax, a hooded person is shown on screen saying “only the dark one opens and closes the door to silent hill” in an eerie and scary way. This person seems to be whispering which allows us to think that there are secrets being kept and also that there is someone there that she/ he doesn’t want to hear, again adding to the fear that the audience are already experience and creating some sort of mystery.
As the camera moves to show the mother looking for her daughter, we hear a swift noise, like a breath quickly moving past your ear. This makes the audience feel as if there is someone behind them, also adding a ghostly atmosphere. We then cut to action featuring the husband saying “I’m trying to find my wife” alongside the sound of rain, creating realism. The husband sounds scared and serious, and by this time, panicked. A close up of a child is then shown to the audience, accompanied by three sharp noises as the child moves. The situation now seems more unnerving and makes the audience feel off edge and frightened.
The mother then says “She looks exactly like Sharon, Why?” which makes the audience question whether this little girl is Sharon. As previously heard, the sounds of sirens enter the trailer again, as if they are being warned, like in the world wars where if the siren blew, everyone would evacuate to bomb shelters and train stations etc. We then see a group of people running into a building, backing up the idea that they are being warned and are being told to run and hide. The police officer from earlier on then shouts “Rose, come on, Rose hurry, its coming!” who we assume to be the mother’s name. By the use of the words its coming, and the fact that everyone is running away on screen creates tension and suspense as the audience are still unaware of this thing that everyone is talking about. The audience now are excited, but frightened and the adrenalin rush now begins to kick in.
Now silence and just a light wind like sound is all we can hear. On screen we can see darkness, followed by the mother holding a torch, alone. She goes onto say “what’s happening” suggesting the danger she is in, and then gasps as if there is something there. As we can see a strange creature like figure approaching her from behind, we can hear a sharp eerie noise gradually becoming louder and louder, as the creature reaches closer and closer until a woman says “to find your daughter, you must face the darkness of hell”. The audience at this point are aware that the mother is in some kind of paranormal world, possibly hell.
The mother than says “it’s ok baby, mummy’s coming” reassuring the audience that everything is going to be alright, and also suggesting this mother’s courage to search for her child in this strange and scary world. Suddenly the mother gasps and we hear another sharp noise echoing through our speakers, followed by a hand falling on to the ground where she was walking. This sudden change in sound and the mother’s reaction then contradicts the previous dialogue that the mother had said as now the audience are unsure If the mother is going to be able to find her daughter, and if she does, alive.
We then hear the sounds of a knife being pulled out of some kind of case, like it is being swung. This reflects the action happening on screen as we can see what appears to be a mummy swing at the mother with a knife. All noise abruptly comes to a standstill, as does the footage on screen shortly followed by the sound of a heartbeat as each bit of action cuts again and again. Tension is building and suspense is rising and then as the audience expect, the final burst of action, otherwise known as the sting comes with a loud, sharp, screaming noise, making the audience jump and become terrified. As the trailer ends on such an evil and eerie noise, the audience suspect a bad ending and will therefore want to go to the cinema to watch this film on release.
Now moving onto editing devices used throughout the Silent Hill film trailer, I will discuss how editing is used to create suspense, tension and fear as well as allowing the audience to feel excited and intrigued.
At the beginning of Silent Hill, we see characters who appear to be a mother and daughter sitting in a field against a tree, where the camera seems to be looking at them through the grass which reflects the idea that someone is looking at them. Like any film trailer we are presented with an equilibrium before we realise the bad things that are about to happen. In this film trailer, a cross dissolve has been used at the start where we see two images merged together, showing that the location has stayed the same even though the action has changed, and it also shows the close relationship between the mother and daughter. Now a dead blackout is used, emphasising that something has changed as another cross dissolve has not been used.
As we move into the car scene, speed of editing begins to increase in speed whereas leading up to this point, speed was relatively slow. The dead blackout also suggested the change in location as we are now in a car heading where we believe to be the place the girl has been speaking of in her sleep. We then see quick fades in and out as the mother begins to lose control of the car. Cuts are then used inside the car which are choppy, violent and make everything seem panicked, suggesting something is wrong. Again, fast cuts have been used outside of the car, showing the surroundings which look isolated and showing the car in different angles making it look more out of control. After the crash we are again presented with a dead blackout which is longer than previous blackouts suggesting a big problem, possibly death. It could also reflect a state of unconsciousness of the mother, the daughter, the girl outside the car, or all three. As we see the mother wake up after the crash, two cross dissolves have been used as she looks round the car for her daughter. This use of editing makes the situation seem confusing and also reflects the feelings running through the mothers mind as she realises her daughter is now missing. As we cut to the outside of the car, it is quick and sharp leading up to another dead blackout. As the dead blackout fades from black, and we see the mother running alongside the road, screaming her daughter’s name, we see black raindrop falling onto the mother’s face where we are then made aware that it is in fact ash.
We then see a sign post reading ‘SILENT HILL’. As we carry on reading the sign, the colours become inverted and flashes of white have been edited into this shot, possibly to reflect evil as we see a strange inverted view on the town. As the mother enters the town, four fast dead blackouts have been used, when each time we see the footage, we are looking at the town and the mother from a different angle. This shows to the audience the surroundings and the new setting that the mother is now in and could also reflect eyes/ people or creatures, lurking in the corners of the town, spying on the mother. This would make the audience feel on edge and nervous for the safety of the mother and her lost child, which will add to the tension that has already been created. The action then cuts to a new male character, cutting back forth between the two. When we see a framed picture of this same male character standing closely beside the mother and her child, we can then understand that this is in fact the father/ husband. The cross cutting from each character suggests the distance between them, making it clear that the mother is a long way from home.
We are then presented with another strap reading; ‘What was once an ordinary town’. It is in a grey scaled, black and white style which links in with the dull and black colours that have been used throughout the trailer so far, and also suggests evil. We are now publicized to an eye line match from the father’s point of view as he reveals to the audience a newspaper article on his computer with the headline “Silent Hill: The Tainted Town. Underground fires still burning today”. This aids the audiences understanding of the narrative further, along with the dialogue, as we are now aware that this town suffered from a fire, suggesting that that is why it is dull, dead and eerie.
Now we are shown a flashback, with a sepia/ greyscale tone showing a group of people walking out of what looks to be a burning building, lead by a young girl with a similar appearance to the mother’s daughter. Three fast cuts have been used, but it is enough for us to see that the group of people are all dressed in black, apart from the child leading them out. This could suggest or resemble a ghost like exterior, but also could represent a funeral, as it is a tradition for the congregation to be dressed purely in black.
The next strap has now been introduced which reads “has been transformed by evil” again in the same style and font to the previous one that we saw seconds before; grey scaled, dull etc. the words now allow the audience to know for a fact that this place is evil and dangerous, so the audience now begin to fear for the daughters and the mothers safety.
A straight cut after the strap leads us to a whip pan of the mother has been used to show expression. She looks scared and the edit taking place is fast and confusing. As we hear the mother scream her daughter’s name, a point of view shot is now in sight as we see a shot of a little girl, walking with her head down, again with a similar appearance to her daughter (at this point we do not know if this child is the daughter or not). Again, the shot is fast and blurred, adding to the confusion of the scene and also creating fear and anxiety as there is no time to think about what you have just seen.
We cut to an extreme long shot of the mother running down the isolated roads of the town Silent Hill, before ending with a dead blackout. As we see the next piece of footage, we can suggest that this blackout has been used to help introduce the new character we are now looking at, showing us that this scene is not a carry on from the last one. The new character that has been introduced is a female police officer, so automatically; the audience may feel some sense of relief that the mother has found help. We then, from a low angle shot, are shown a caped character, who then rids this sensation of relief and fills the audience with fear again.
As the mother enters the school building, quick and sharp dead black outs have been used which create tension and suspense. For example, a medium shot of a girl is shown, but quickly broken up into three shots, this makes the audience question her identity and also aids the audience to feel on edge and frightened. The dead black outs also suggest to me that we are seeing this girl from the mothers point of view, where the dead black outs act in place for the mothers eye, as if she is blinking to rid the image of this demonic looking child.
The climax begins after the group of people are seen running into some kind of building and we are again presented with a dead black out; which this time is longer and more drawn out, creating suspense. From here on out we are presented with a fast, visual montage of shots that you would find in the film. Editing devices used throughout these are; straps i.e. ‘secrets without explanation’ and ‘fear without end’. By braking up the climax with straps, it aids audience understanding which they may not be able to get from the footage alone as it is fast paced and diverse. As the climax moves on the straps begin to change colour and instead of being on a grey scale template, we can now see a fiery orange colour being used, which reflects the fire that this town had once experienced. When the music stops, and all we can hear is the sound of a heart, beating, the editing goes in time with the beating and each shot is divided with a dead black out. This makes everything seem panicked and rushed, and adds to the fear and anticipation of wanting to find out what happens next. The trailer then ends with a loud burst of sound and a final shot of footage, otherwise known as the sting which leaves the audience scared, yet excited and wanting more.
I feel that this film trailer uses brilliant technical skills in order to frighten the audience, such as sound, camera, editing and mise en scene. I have now become more familiar with the codes and conventions of trailers after having analysed its structure and the way in which this is used for effect. I believe that this is a film trailer that would have successfully lured in its target audience through all elements including Mise en scene. Having analysed this film trailer, it has drawn my attention to the importance of sound and editing as these are the two factors in which I felt were most effective and enticing. Therefore this film trailer has inspired me to want to create the same effect through sound and editing, rather than thinking that I should be purely focusing on the footage itself; although that is extremely important and as much effort will be going into it as the others, I am now are that it will not be an effective trailer that I long for is some technical areas are neglected.
