the grudge 2 trailer analysis

What is the objective of a horror film trailer?

The objective of a horror trailer is to shock, scare and thrill the audience and to create suspense through creating a horrific atmosphere. To get the audience interested in the film. To create the atmosphere they use a group of techniques. the main techniques used are:

Structural Techniques

Sound Devices

Camera Techniques

Aesthetic Techniques

What Structural Techniques where used?

the structural techniques used in the trailer

where:

Text

Narrative content

Characters

Text:

The Text shown on the screen was:

From Sam And Columbia Pictures

A door was opened

And A grudge was Born

This Fall

What was contained

will be unleashed

coming soon

Friday October the 13th

The text tells us some information about the movie it self, such as it's producers, and the date it will be put out in cinemas. It also tells us more about the content of the film telling us that the grudge "a curse" will be unleashed on the world. For previous viewers this can be exiting and can tell new viewers more about the trailer.

The story:

From the trailer we can gather that the grudge is a curse that was passed to a group of dead people and that the curse can be passed on by killing any one who sees it. We can also tell that the curse was contained in a house and that it is now unleashed in to the world.

Characters:

from the imagery shown we can distinguish a few characters:

Aubrey Davis: is the girl shown in the beginning of the trailer. who is the protagonist in the film

Karen Davis: the blonde on the hospital bed she is Aubrey Davis's sister

The Grudge ghosts

The three girls: they are shown half way through the trailer in front of the house.

Eason: Is the asian man shown when the grudge is coming out of the photograph

What sound devices where used in the trailer?

The sound devices during the trailer where:

Sound effects

Music

Dialog

Sound effects:

Some sound effects used in the trailer where:

1.flickering lights sound

2.beeping siren

3.shuffling/movement

4.phone ringing

5.squeaky noises

6.screams

These sounds help emphasis the scenes in the trailer and make it scarier which will help the trailer to capture the appropriate audience's (horror audience) interest. The sounds effects also play a huge role in creating the horror atmosphere, by adding intensity to the frightening scene. A few parts where this is shown is when the grudge is walking in the hospitals hall way or when the door opens slowly and a person comes out then they quickly show the grudge screaming.

Music:

Most of the music used in the trailer was intense scary music which is repeated several times.

The music is usual played by starting of in a low volume in the background of a scene and slowly getting louder and faster as the scary part approaches

In certain scenes the music is accompanied with a light chant, this repetition of sounds hypnotizes the viewer and causes him submerge in the atmosphere so that when the scary scene happens they are concentrating only on the trailer.

Dialog:

The dialog was mostly non diegetic and in most of the scenes the tones talked in where horrified, crippled tones. some examples of dialect in the trailer is

I booked a fly it leaves early tomorrow morning Theirs been an accident your sister is in the hospital, what type of accident?

My sister is dead

why? what do you want?

Tell me what happened.

don’t go in the house

every one who went in the house has died.

U wont stop

the dialog helps the viewer get a better understanding of the story, the tones help the viewers get a better understanding of the positions that the characters are in, and there status in the story.

what aesthetic techniques where used in the trailer?

lighting

color

pace

editing

Lighting:

the lighting in the trailer alternated from high to low and even sometimes to no lights at all a good example in the trailer where this is shown is the hospital scene where she is lying on the hospital bed and when the grudge is walking up the hospital hall.

The quick change of lights helps shock the audience and the dim lighting in some scenes makes the scene scarier.

Color:

The main colors associated with the trailer is blue and red the reason the color blue is very important is because it is the color of the people possessed by the grudge. The color red is the color of the whole scene when the grudge comes out of the picture and attacks Eason.

Pace and editing:

The pace of the trailer changes from time to time as the trailer approached the end the pace quickened and the trailer was then edited to change the shots taken from the film quickly. The fast change of the scenes allows the trailer to show you more of the movie and transfer more information to you in a shorter period of time.

what camera techniques where used in the trailer?

The camera techniques used in the trailer are:

Shot framing

Camera Angles

Camera Movment

Shot framing:

The frames the shots where taken where:

Close up shot

Very wide shot

Medium close up shot

Wide shot

Over the shoulder shot

Point of view shot

Mid close up shot

Extremely close shot

Close shot shot

Camera angles:

the camera angles shown in the trailer where:

birds eye

high

low

over the shoulder

oblique

examples of where high shots where used is when the girl is at schgool and she moves her book and finds the grudge sitting next to her legs and an example of a bird eye angle in the story is when the girls enter the house and look around.

The Grudge 2