Film trailer analysis
- 1. FILM TRAILER ANALYSIS The Purge
- 2. CAMERA There is a close up of the doors shutting and them arming the house getting ready for the purge. It is a close up to show how secure they are and what they can stand up to. There is a long shot of each time they show the CCTV. This suggest that is it CCTV and it shows all of the violence that is happening in the purge. There is a panning shot of the man turning the corner with his torch shining and it shows the blood on the wall. This connotes that the man who is hiding has wrote that and the family has to look for him to save their lives but he doesn't want to be found.
- 3. There is an over the shoulder shot of the child looking at the TV, it has the news and the CCTV they have outside the house. This signifies how scared they are as they need to keep a close eye on the front door. This is also suggesting that they want to know what is happening but they don’t want it to happen to them. There is a medium shot of the boy and the girl kissing in the bedroom. This suggest that they are happy with each other. This also shows that they know that they are safe when they are together as they have each others back. There is a low level shot as the camera is on the floor but the child is under the bed so it is level with the face. This suggest that she is hiding from the man with the boots on as he is going to try and kill her. It is a medium close up as we want to see her facial expressions but we still want to know what is happening around her.
- 4. EDITING There is a dissolve transition from the shot where they show the whole village, to a black screen with ‘because one night a year’. This connotes that the people in the village is happy until this one night where all crime will become legal. There are fade in and fade out transitions from the sun set with clouds to the couple kissing. This shows what they see as heaven to them and it shows how happy they are. The colour is white because it is a light colour and shows peaceful and happiness. There is a focus pull of the mum holding the gun who is in focus, then it pulls to the man at the window being in focus. This connotes the fact that she doesn’t know that he is there and showing that the film is going to be scary how the man is wearing
- 5. The pace of the trailer starts off slow which connotes how chilled out they are and how happy they are; but then the pace builds up with loads of quick short shots which connotes that the actual film is going to be the same style as the trailer and starts off slow and ends up fast paced. There is a sequence of shots that starts off with an over the shoulder shot looking at the man sharpening the machete, then it zooms in a bit for a long shot of the man, then it zooms right in to a close up. This shows what is happening when the man is getting prepared for the purge and the family next door is shocked about it. It is a sequence of shots so that the audience will think about the story and not any fancy zooms or transactions. The establishing shot of a high angle shot of the whole village. This will set the scene that it is a rich village as there are swimming pools in the back gardens and the houses are big.
- 6. MISE-EN-SCENE - SETTING The setting is a suburban rich village. We know this by this extreme long shot of a birds eye view of the village.
- 7. MISE-EN-SCENE – PROPS The props used in the trailer are: machete, guns, baseball bats and steel doors. All of these props shows how violent the film will be as they are all weapons. Also that have these weapons just because all crime is legal for 12 hours and they will be killing or shooting people. Another prop is the masks that the antagonist wear. this suggest that they don’t want their identity to be recognised and most people find people wearing masks scary as they don’t know who is behind them.
- 8. MISE-EN-SCENE - COSTUME The family are wearing smart clothing but the people on the streets are wearing casual clothing. This connotes that the people who are wearing smart clothing are rich and the other people are not. They are willing to kill people for money when the family said no when someone offered them to kill someone. The antagonists are wearing a white dress which is anti stereotype as normally they wear dark clothing but white isn’t a dark colour.
- 9. MISE-EN-SCENE - LIGHTING The lighting is anti stereotype as the antagonist is in high key lighting and the protagonist are in low key lighting. Normally low key lighting is all about the evil side and the high key lighting is more about the hero. Most of the trailer is in dark key lighting. This connotes that it is at nightime and that will identify that it is a horror because most horror genre films are at nightime.
- 10. SOUND – NON DIEGETIC There is a non-diegetic sound of an low organ at the start which makes out that the family are calm and happy with each other and with the world. The music had been drowned out by the machete being sharpened. The music also stopped after Charlie lets the black guy in. this is to build up tension and so that the family can talk without the music drowning them out. The music stops when the mum hits the other woman around the head. This is an anti stereotype as you normally think of women being scared and weak in movies. The non diegetic sound has come back on right at the end when the title of the film comes up.
- 11. SOUND - DIEGETIC There is a diegetic sound of gun shots when they are showing the CCTV footage. This connotes that there is a lot of violence in the film and gives use an idea that it is a horror/action film. The trailer has an emphasis on the machete being sharpen by the next door neighbour. This has drowned out the music and this also connotes that the film is about violence. You had a siren for the start of the purge. Also you have the sound of the mechanical doors shutting. This suggests wealth in the family as they have the money to afford the automatic security doors.
- 12. REPRESENTATION The stereotype of a family having one child is happy as they are walking in the sunset. This has the connotation of a calm happy colour. You have the representation of wealth as when the boy and girl are kissing, you have trophies on the shelves in the bedroom. This shows that they have won a lot of trophies and they have the money to do that. The stereotypes of horror having lots of quick short shots is represented here as it will build up tension and will get more people interested in the film. It is an anti stereotype where the antagonist is not normally formally dressed but he is.
- 13. NARRATIVE THEORY Todorov Theory The equilibrium is the family sitting down having dinner together as a happy family. The disruption is the start of the purge where there is a lot of violence going on in the streets but the family have made them safe being in the house with armed doors. The recognition of disruption is when Charlie disarms the doors to let this black guy in as he was shouting he needs help. Also it is when the antagonist comes to the door and asks where the black guy is. The attempt to repair is the family looking for the black guy and them fighting with the antagonists. We don’t know the new equilibrium as in the trailer you wouldn’t want to know what happens at the end of the film or they wouldn’t come and watch the film.
- 14. AUDIENCE THEORY This trailer is for the mass audience as a lot of people that are interested in horror films and if they are not, people know that is an action film. The target audience will be the group Adults between 16-34 as people older wouldn’t want to watch those type of films and people younger will be too young to watch it as it has been rated a 15. This trailer will be for all of the socio- economic groups because the type of job you have wouldn’t effect the different genre of film you like. P – showing the normal family and how they are happy being a family I – this will inform you of what to do in a situation of the purge E – the trailer might be scary to some people and it will help people get away from their problems S – will talk about the trailer, about how scary it is and asking their friends if they found it scary