Stephan Kings horror epic "IT", retells the story of a group of children, firstly shown as adults, who come into a horrific situation when their town comes under the scrutiny of a murderous clown, called pennywise. The clown shows it's purpose to entice young children and feed off of them, but once his clown imagery stops getting him what he wants, "IT" takes drastic measures.
The trailer begins by showing a young girl holding her doll as she plays in what is presumably her back garden, We hear the non diegetic soundtrack of happy, lighthearted children's music as we see a close up shot of white washing hanging on the line as it blows in the wind, when suddenly we see a smirking white face with bright red lipstick and a receded red afro hair line, giving the audience the impression of a harmless children entertainment clown.
The camera continues to cut back and forth of closeups of the girl and the waving washing and we see the girl smiling, suddenly loud abrupt drums occur, with whispering, deep voices beginning to chant, eradicating the innocence of the scene and building tension within the audience, The girl is then seen in a medium shot through the laundry again and we see that has smile has fallen as she stands there staring into the sheets, where we cut to a medium shot of the clown hunched over also no longer smiling and appearing very menacing, making the audience worry for the child's safety and wonder what the clowns intentions are of him being in this girls garden as she plays alone. The camera then starts a naturalistic panning towards the shaken girl, appearing as though this is the clowns footsteps and posing a threat towards the child.
Then fading to a white screen we see the white sharp edged text reading "Stephan king's" as the camera pans out to reveal "IT" written largely around it as it turns from white to blood red, giving the audience a strong sense of a gore-like and violent theme within the picture already, as we hear the non-diegetic soundtrack of a fast paced child like song. Then cutting to a close up shot we see a paper boat sailing through a long puddle aside a curb, with a young boy dressed in a yellow raincoat and cap, giving off the sense of innocence and cuteness due to his mise en scene, running after it as it suddenly falls down a vast drain, as it rains. Due to the darkness negative weather, and the large yellow gate barriers, we can gather that the boy is likely to be on his own as other children and the majority of the public would not be outside in that kind of weather, showing a sense of vulnerability. As the young boy gets on his hands and knees the clown again pops up from the drain smiling, showing the audience the repeating occurrence of the clown wanting to entice children.
We then cut to various shots of middle aged adults trying to live their normal lives as the clown pops up in their houses, digging graveyards and even in the moon as a reflection, showing the audience that the clown is a stalking psychopath. One particularly disturbing shot shows a conventional helpless and nerdy teenaged boy as a large pair of inhumane hands slowly wrap around his neck as he stands their and shakes, effectively giving the audience the impression of paranormal tones within the film and that pennywise himself isn't just a psychopath but possibly a monster.
This is further proved when a middle aged man is seen in a taxi as he drives past the clown holding a large bunch of balloons as he waves at him from the side of a woodland empty road, then after the middle aged man turns around, finds a large yellow balloon floating next to him. This theme continues on when showing the clown being sucked down some sort of hole as a group of children watch in horror, and also when they're reading book only to see a hand luging out of it trying to grasp them.
We see multiple fas paced shots of various creatures coming out of a lake again trying to get to the children, with also dead looking zombie like creatures appearing in people's homes, making the audience question what it is about this town and why these creatures are attacking and wanting to frighten young children, showing one girl standing over her sink as a red balloon starts to inflate outside of the drain then finally exploding blood all over the sink and her, showing the audience that the clown has taken blood, therefore there will be death within the film.After seeing the clown reached his way through a shower rooms floor we fade to black showing the title once more.
Drag me to hell (2009) tells the story of a woman who in effort to try and gain a higher work title humiliates a woman trying to seek help from her company, when this occurs the woman casts a curse on the young woman, setting a demon on to her and to drag her to hell for eternity.
The trailer opens to an establishing shot of a a trafficked motorway, with a blonde haired young woman in her car looking miserable, we then cut to her in presumably her work place, where she approaches her boss in order to ask him about a new job title, when he seems to be less convinced he diegetically talks about the need to make "tough decisions". The office she is in appears very plain and with dull colours, making the woman's life appear very boring and dull, making the audience sense that she needs the promotion in order to gain more happiness, showing the audience it is very important to her.
We then cut to a creepy looking older woman, with one colour eye different to the other, seemingly poor, as she pleads with the before mentioned young woman to get an extension on a loan so that she can stay in her house, the young lady's boss tells her that it is a "tough decision", hinting to her not to give the old woman an extension, making the woman realise in order to achieve her wanted managers position she must decline the woman's request.Making the audience sympathise with both Christine and the older woman, as Christine before hand seemed to be willing to help the older woman, but now she is making an out of character move.
After the woman begs and pleads with her, the young woman (Christine) calls security and starts to humiliate the woman by screaming and further denying her pleads. We then cut to a darkly set car park where Christine sits in her car building the tension, when suddenly the old woman smashing her side window and drags her out of her car and is seen breathing heavily on one of Christine's possessions, Then in a close up shot tells Christine "soon it will be you who comes begging to me ".
We then cut to a medium shot of Christine in a darkly lit room with a man holding her hand, As they are surrounded by books and ornaments that would represent a voodoo/psychic conventions, with the rooms mise en scene showing a crystal ball in the background, showing further tones of paranormal themes. The bearded gentleman then states that someone has place a curse on Christine and that the worst demon of all is coming after her, showing the audience that she was in fact cursed by the older woman in the car park, We cut to further creepy shots of gates creaking and slamming as the wind blows dead leaves around wildly, building up the tension of an attack against Christine. With images of a demon's shadow appearing around her house.
As she is lying in bed we can still hear the man non diegetically speak, the soundtrack continues to gain speed and pitch further increases, With the man stating that the demon will "Drag you to hell", as he says this all music stops as we see Christine choke on a fly as she slept, making her appear vulnerable and an easy target. We cut back to a side angle close up of Christine as she goes to lie down, when we suddenly see a demon like woman lying in place of her boyfriend screaming in Christine's face.
Then we hear a sign of hope for Christine when the psychic man who helped her previously state that she can give the curse away, As we see a high angle long shot of four people including Christine her boyfriend and the previously mentioned psychic man. Creating a seance like setting,We then see multiple faced paced clips of Christine struggling and fighting to get away from demon like figures around her, Finally concluding on fire like hands dragging Christina down, making the audience wonder if she lived and whether she indeed beat the curse or got dragged to hell.
The purge election year, is the third horror instalment of the popular purge franchise, where a female senator is under threat from the government due to her intentions to prevent the annual purges from taking place, which entail all illegal activity legal for 12 hours.
We open to a panning close up shot of a frame on a wall, distorted and hanging, where we can make out a quote within the frame stating " Welcome to our home", immediately making the receiving audience presume a break in, as the eery wind like sounds, make for a very uncomfortable feeling among viewers as the tension builds.
We then suddenly hear a male voice non diegetically, as he excitedly says that there is one more purge game to play, as we see a close up of a blood soaken floor with an unidentifiable metal object next to it, showing the audience that a sense of gore will be prominent within the film. Finally we then cut to a medium shot of a darkly lit room with the male speaker disguised with a blue mask, as we then see a long shot of a family bloody and tied up in front of him on a sofa, showing the audience that this type of horror film, will be gore more of instead of a paranormal based picture.Finally the male states diegetically "which one of you will survive this years purge?", We then pan into a woman on the sofa in glasses as she's covered in blood and screams. We then suddenly cut to the woman clean and nervous looking as she stands behind a podium where titles appear saying 15 years later, and showing that she is running for president, Through her past ordeal it makes the audience sympathise with her character and know that she is the protagonist of the picture.
We then see multiple shots of her on people television sets across america, where they all nod in agreement with what she is saying , with one man stating that "she is going to make real changes", Through their mise en scene we can see they are poorer and less privileged and that is who the presidential candidate is aiming to impress, As she states that the purge needs to come to an end, Although we see multiple medium shots of business men, who we then presume to be congressmen, state that they need to do something about "this senator", making the audience presume that she is under threat again.
We then cut to multiple shots of scary looking blood dripping masks, with people holding weapons, and passing through streets with weapons, making them seem to posing as a threat towards the senator. Immediately after the purge is announced to start, the senator's body guards are shot down, and the senator's main bodyguard states that they have been betrayed, showing that the two will have to go on the run to maintain their safety throughout the night.
We then see a very disturbing long shot, of three bodies in white night gowns hanging from a tree appearing dead, as a fourth individual in a night gown dances around their floating bodies.We then see a high speed pace of shots of the two either fighting, being tortured or running, as the two finally get picked up by some people on the street, showing the audience that the working class don't want to purge and want to protect the senator at all costs so that they can prevent a future purge from occurring.
We then finally see the senator captured and in church as she is tied up in a white gown, in front of a table of weaponry, and a cathedral full of people, as she seems to be about to be tortured, we then cut to the title of the film, making the audience wonder whether the senator will live or not.
American history X focuses on the life of neo Nazi Derek Vinyard, whose life is now being turned around since an enlightenment whilst serving a prison sentence for manslaughter, Now out of prison and wanting a better life for himself, he now concentrates on getting his younger brother Danny out of the toxic environment.
The trailer starts off with an establishing shot
of a large building, vandalised with graffiti, There is a black and white filtered edit over the screen, we also hear the non diegetic sound of a conversation between mother and son, hearing "mom I told you not to visit me", then fading to a close up of a prison visitation room, with the mother and son revealed, showing that the son isn't proud to be there and doesn't want his mother seeing him in prison.
We see various fading images of the man's life before he got sentenced, due to the black and white filter separating the past from the present. The past shows the male to be an associate and somewhat leader of a Nazi movement, showing him pointing at a large swastika tattoo he has on his chest and hearing the diegetic utterance "this means not welcome". Then seeing Derek finally be surrounded by policeman after hear him shoot someone, and smugly putting his hands behind his head.
In colour we then see Derek as a new person with grown out hair and trying to cover his swastika tattoo with his hand, inferring to the audience that he regrets his past choices and no longer feels the way he did, and wants to get out of his past life. Then seeing his younger brother,Danny,after getting out of prison, with a shaven head and an offensive racist tattoo, he see's that his past ways have had a negative influence on him.
We then see that through Derek's attempts to try and get danny out of the white supremacy cult, he is up against a larger group of neo nazis due to a close up shot of a girl diegetically stating that "we are ten times bigger than we were", showing that it's going to be difficult to prevent danny's transformation into what he once was. As we see a long shot of the threatening looking volatile gang who are surrounded by fire, and holding up american flags making them appear to look like an army.
We then see a close up shot of danny tell his older brother Derek that "They're after you man", showing that the Neo Nazi cult isn't prepared to let Derek leave, making it appear to the receiving audience that Derek played an important role within the cult when he wasn't in prison and before he converted to a peaceful and less threatening life. Finally as the non diegetic soundtracks pace begins to increase in tempo, we see a large bald headed man push through the crowd of nazis, looking menacing as he holds a gun up, whilst hearing the voice of a non diegetic speaker say "shoot him!', Then suddenly cutting to a close up of Derek also holding a gun up also, showing that Derek's life is in danger through this lifestyle and this i why Derek wants his younger brother out of this dangerous environment. We then suddenly hear a gunshot as the screen cuts to black.
After this we hear a non diegetic soundtrack with sadder tones and conventions, as a montage of Derek and his family are shown at upsetting and happier times, where we finally hear Derek tell Danny that he is his best friend and he loves him. Showing the audience that family is a vital value within this film.
Mention representation, genre, narrative, mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound in your approach to analysis of trailers to add to posts and evaluate those in your chosen genre. Magazines and posters need to be analysed further - push yourself and evidence your high ability.
War Dogs (2016), is the soon to be released comedy, starring Miles Teller and Jonah Hill, showcasing the true story of two arms dealers, who supply weaponry to the US army due to a $300 million contract with the US government, young and dumb the two take risky moves which land them in trouble wherever they are.
The trailer opens to an establishing shot of a voluminous, pentagon shaped white building, surrounded by neat, serine greenery, with white text in the lower left corner of the shit stating that this is set in " The Pentagon in 2007", Over this shot we hear the non-diegetic voice of an american male stating " frankly we were a tad concerned with your performance history", immediately signalling to the audience an underdog situation, and feeling sympathetic for who the obviously powerful american narrator is talking to. We then cut to a panning inward medium shot of two basically identical bald men at the head of a table, who's mise en scene shows them to be powerful and dominant, due to both their business suits and their position on the table, but also due to the american and customs flags behind them, showing the audience that the films premise is to do with customs, i.e transporting goods.
Though the opening comment about an insufficient performance history is disregarded, as the two men reveal that they feel like they're "in good hands with this one", then cutting to another inward panning shot we see two men sitting at opposite end of the table, who also are dressed in business suits, though unlike the two heads of the table look nothing alike, with one in a black suit, with an expressionless face and slightly larger in size to the other man next to him, who is wearing a grey suit and is expressing happiness whilst diegetically stating " we will not let you down". Though the tone is immedialty dropped once the two find out that the only reason they have received this unrevealed job is because they " low balled" the operation and came in $53 million lower than their competition. Where we see a close up shot of the man in the black suit close his eyes and cover his face as he calmly but quietly says "oh okay", But the audience gather this was through gritted teeth, as we immediately cut to a speedily panning inward shot of the same an in a white corridor kicking and screaming at the wall, while his partner stands and watches him, This is also the point where upbeat music starts to play.
Then cutting to a news reel of a anchorman in a medium shot stating " how did two twenty something year olds land a $300 million pentagon contract?", cutting part way through saying this we see the two looking happier and more tanned, showing that their work takes them abroad. We then see the two in a long inward panning shot, showing the two surrounded by giant square piles of money, as they both stand next to each other grinning profusely.
Then cutting to a yellow screen we see the black text state " from the director of the hangover trilogy", showing that this is a humorous film and is targeting the audience of the box office hits. Then cutting to high angle establishing shots of a coastal city with turquoise waters and sandy beaches, showing the receiving audience that the two men are living the high life and visiting luxurious places.
A more violent tone is expressed in another inward panning medium shot showing the angrier character out of the two shooting a gun repeatedly in a shooting range as his companion watches behind him squeamishly. We then hear over the top of this non diegetically " they call guys like us war dogs", as we see the two in a cherry red sports car as the american flag is seen reflected on their windscreen, showing that their country is impacted by their actions. Following this we see the two men presented with a cake made out of the letters "aey", possibly the name of their company. We then see them in a digitally edited slow motion state of them dancing and having a good time at a party, showing the audience that the money they're making has given them a party lifestyle.
The two are then seen in numerous locations, while one of the two non diegetically narrates over the shots saying " make money off of war without stepping onto the battlefield", stating the interest of the operation having to do with war, but without them having to fight. We are then shown numerous closeup shots of weaponry and money showing the main focus on the operation, making it appear as though the two are selling and transporting weaponry in exchange for hefty sums of money.
The music and then shot cuts to the two walking rapidly though an airport, then stating that " don't worry i have to go first i'm american", showing the risky comedic effect, with the combination of money, weaponry and war themes, shows that the suitable audience is most likely going to be 15+. Music then starting again we see rapid shots of the two driving matching porches and in large serine apartments and houses, showing the operation to be a success, Also showing their happy lives as they are seen in high angle panning shots as they drive jeeps through an empty dessert.
Though they prove to show their risky if not stupid moves, when we see a close up shot reverse shot conversation between the two partners, who contemplate on whether to drive to Baghdad, and reveal that they are " gun runners", showing that they are under dangerous conditions on transporting the weaponry themselves. Though immediately after showing to be made into a humorous situation when the larger one of the two is seen strutting along as he shot a machine gun completely unfazed into the air. The noise of the machine gun turns into the same sound of a cash counting machine, showing the tied connection of guns and money within their line of work. Though this seems to be threatened when we see a medium shot of an office with numerous bodies wearing green FBI jackets, showing what they are doing has turned illegal.Following this we see that their sense of a luxurious lifestyle has had an impact of violence, as we see a high angle medium shot of one of the two main men being punched in the face and knocked out in a club, then cutting to another high angle shot of one of the men snorting cocaine in what appears to be an aeroplane toilet.
Then seeing the two's lives being stressed out beyond control as we see again rapid shots of glass windows being smashed, the two threatened to the ground with guns, and a medium shot of the two in a truck transporting guns, as two other trucks are seen in the background firing shots at the two and knocking their wing mirror clean off. The music then cuts completely, ending the high tension of the car chase, and shows the two partners in a medium shot as they are told my american army officials that they just drove the guns through the "triangle of death", to which the two look unaware of wha they just did and remain silent and look bewildered, thus showing the overall thrilling humour of the film, then ending on the yellow screen with the bold film title in black, "War Dogs".
Suicide Squad is the soon to be blockbuster hit from Warner bros. productions, Marvel's famous character's star together in an attempt to save the world in a mission that has been targeted by the government, that will most likely result in their own deaths, with many having supernatural ability's the squad show a high sense of power, but can they come out of this alive ?
The trailer fades in from black immediately playing the incredibly successful and well known hit by queen "Bohemian Rhapsody", The camera pans vertically downwards, showing a heavily guarded and murky corridor, seemingly a prison, again fading to black and into the next shot we see a man locked in a cell say "Let me outta here doll please", as a female guard pushes up the window on the cells door, closing the man off from seeing her. she appears to be emotionless and her mise en scene proves her to be prepared for danger, due to the all black uniform with a heavy helmet and vest on to protect her, she is also possessing a gun, making the man within the cell appear to be a threat, but due to the man's desperate plea, the audience immediately sympathise with him.
Then we cut to a low angle close up shot of a quirky looking women, who's mise en scene shows her to have pale skin and pale white hair tied into two buns, with pink and blue ends on either side. whilst in this shot we see her drinking a small cup of tea, whilst reading a book, making her appear vulnerable like a child. We then cut to a medium shot of her in a cell on her bed cross legged in a orange jumpsuit, making the audience question as to why she is being held, due to the fact that her appearance deceives the fact that she could be a criminal.
We then cut to a close up shot of another man with a rough beard again in an orange jumpsuit, through the constant focus on prison inmates the audience will come to wonder if the film will be about and set in prison. The man is then cut to again in his cell staring out of a small rectangular window bringing the only light through with it, we also see a camera in the corner showing him under constant surveillance, making the audience feel sorry for him for only having that one window to look out of, but also curious as to why these people are in prison under such high surveillance.
We then cut to another cell, with it appearing to be completely unfit for a human to live in their, with the individual doing press ups on a drain, as a small river moves through the cell, with a menacing green glow bouncing off the walls, which are wet and stained. Then fading to a close up of what appears to be the same inmate, reveals his mise en scene to be more creepier, as his whole face is to tattoo'd to appear like a skull. But also the genre then changes for the audience as we see in the same shot that the tattoo'd inmate is producing fire out of his hands, but in an nonviolent matter, making the audience feel as if it's not his fault that he is this way.
We then see a close up of a video surveillance screen, showing one of the inmates looking directly into the camera in his cell screaming, showing that the prison standards are driving the inmates crazy, through being locked up in a cell with basically no natural lighting or human contact. Editing to fading to black the shot reopens to medium shot, showing through a set of windows, three people having dinner in a dimly lit almost empty room, the shot shows the audience that it is raining, suggesting to the audience that the three are discussing a dark subject, as rain connotes depressing and dark themes. Whilst this shot is in process we hear the non diegetic sound of a woman's voice who we presume is part of the table of three, she says "I want to assemble a task force of the most dangerous people on the planet", Where we then cut to a closeup of the woman saying this to her two male associates, the woman then is responded to by one of the gentleman who says "these are bad guys", his mise en scene shows him to be wearing some sort of prestigious uniform, showing the audience this is a government operation and is therefore a highly important meeting.
Then cutting sharply to a shot of the Warner bros productions in a distorted metal font, with bright colourful lights flickering, causing a suspenseful tone on the trailer and overall film. As the inmates previously seen are all assembled out of their cells one by one, We see an alien-like creature be straddled to a gurney with wheels, as he is brought through a dimly lit area barely seeing his face in a medium low angle shot, The trailer then shows a comedic side through the previously shown white haired female character, who is seen a medium side shot , surrounded by both the inmates and army as she throws her arms into the air as she yells "Hi boys !", showing her character to be a subject of loss due to the lack of females shown within the trailer.
A non diegetic narrater then is heard of a series of clips giving a background on the "bad guys" who seem to be the anti-heroes of this film, and what they are going to be used for, With this a shot of each inmate is shown when their "useful" asset is called, with The alien like creature being revealed as a scaly lizard like creature in a medium shot grilling his teeth at what is presumably is prey, as it is revealed he eats people. A medium shot is then shown of a girl completely surrounded by flies and dressed in all black and is revealed to be possessed by a witch, then stating lastly that "she's just crazy", showing the white haired female again talking about "the voices" in her head in a dark comedic way, furthermore showing the humour in her character.
Following this we see high angle wide shots of helicopter shooting frantically below them, as it is non-diegetically revealed to the band of criminals that "You're going somewhere very bad to do something that will get you killed", showing throughout this statement various shots of a destroyed city, showing that this certain city and its civilians are under turmoil, As we see crashed airplanes in the middle of the street and vehicles completely destroyed also. Though we see that the army and the "bad guys" are working together, showing the audience that the criminals aren't as bad as what is made out of them, and that possibly a bond will form between the army officials and the inmates.
Constantly in time with the songs sudden thuds, we see gun shots, punches and kicks made by members of the now branded "suicide squad" as they attack unidentifiable individuals, showing a further sense of suspense, creating a wanting to know of what the suicide squad are up against throughout the receiving audience. Suddenly the song stops and the screen edits to fade to black, then reopens on a close up of a pale faced and neon green haired man, stating " I cant wait to show you my toys" as he slaps the man somewhat hard in the face, creating the effect that this is an important character, and perhaps who the suicide squad are ultimately up against. This however would more over get the audience want to come to see the film due to the reinstatement of the highly known "Joker" character, and would want to see how this joker is performed. Vey few shots are shown of the joker to keep plot under-wraps, but show a Birdseye view shot of the joker surrounded by knives as he laughs hysterically, showing a sadistic nature to him, frightening the audience.
The notion that civilians were under harm in the city, is further created as we see them screaming and running as what appears to be an underground train is crushed and shot at. An idea is also brought into thought, when we see the white haired female " Harley Quinn" and the Joker in a car all dressed up together, showing them as a possible couple, this is further driven when we see a high angle long shot of the joker falling off of a warehouse balcony into a vat of chemicals, much alike the original joker, we then cut to another high long angle of the joker in the chemicals as he cradles Harley with him.
The fast paced music then cuts suddenly to the sound of Harley smashing a shops front window, as she reaches in and grabs a handbag, where she turns in a medium shot and states "we're bad guys its what we do", closing on a light hearted comedic tone, Then showing the same metal text with coloured lights on stating the films title "Suicide Squad".
