Deconstruction Of Film Trailer

This is a simple text deconstruction of the trailer, For a detailed deconstruction, please see my Voiceover evaluation.

In this stage of the evaluation I am going to critically deconstruct my own trailer. As this is an animated piece of media, I am going to deconstruct it in a different manner as I did in the planning stage of the project. I am going to break the trailer down into sections, frames and seconds in order to be able to fully explain each part.

Breakdown of the Trailer:

The trailer in total is 1 minuet 14 seconds long, an adequate time for the conventions of a teaser trailer. I am going to break it down into six sections of unequal time ; the reason for this is that it has a combination of fast passed transitions and slow paced motion, both of which require deconstruction.

Section One: (1 – 15 seconds) Frame Count: 6

Section Two: (15 – 26 seconds) Frame Count: 3

Section Three: (26 – 44 seconds) Frame Count: 9

Section Four: (44 – 51 Seconds) Frame Count: 8

Section Five: (51 - 61 Seconds) Frame Count: 6

Section Six: (61 – 74 Seconds) Frame Count: 4

Section One

Section one is the introduction to the trailer consisting of 6 motion frames. There is limited pace in this opening sequence as it was created for anchorage and establishment of the genre. The first frame is a shot of the house at a semi-low angle shot, No.38 on the street, followed by two longer paced shots of the child, and a medium angle shot with a candle. There is also a very low panning shot of a Childs feet walking down a corridor. This three frame sequence is then followed by two 0.2 second blip image of a burning crucifix and a bloody knife, both at birds-eye-view medium shots, which then fades into a slower paced zoom shot of blood dripping from a second knife.

This entire opening sequence has a very dark mise-en-scene, and is accompanied by a mixture of none diagetic sounds and a single use of voiceover. Whispers and droning noises can be heard while the child and house are in shot, and fast thumps accompany the rapid paced two frame sequence. The voiceover is recorded whilst the child moves along the corridor.

This opening scene was constructed, as previously stated, for anchorage. This lets the viewer know the setting is a house. Then the genre establishment, touched upon in the first three frames, is fully established by the blood, sounds and pace of the last three. The voiceover is none diagetic, using the lyrics from the famous nursery rhyme ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ aids this opening scene in both anchorage (as it lets the audience know the character is a child) and genre establishment (in the way the line is sung creating an incredibly sinister effect).

I also wanted to touch on some symbology in this opening scene. We used a shot of a burning crucifix for two specific reasons, genre establishment and controversy. The use of a burning crucifix has connotations of Satanism and evil, thus reinforcing the genre of the film as horror. It is controversial due to the unacceptability of Satanism in society and the fear it generates. However it also engages an audience’s attention in a very effective manner

Section Two

Section two is a connection sequence consisting of three longer frames. The first is a text frame reading the words ‘What if I am not the abused’. This scene finalizes all genre establishment and provides the anchor from the first section, in addition it gives the audience insight into the plot of the film. The next two frames feature a shot of the child with a candle,( the same shot as the first sequence) except the camera zooms more slowly towards his face. This is accompanied by the same none diagetic sound of whispers as in the first sequence. The second shot is of the Childs feet walking up a set of stairs, again, at a very low angle shot. The sound heard over this shot is the second voice over; ‘How I wonder where you are’, which is again a none diagetic voiceover. This small construction was included to slow the pace down again and continue the narrative of the trailer ,before pacing up again. We decided that without this sequence the trailer ran too rapidly and ended too quickly.

Section Three

This is the longest section in the trailer. It lays between the important narrative section and the very high paced montage before the concluding sections. This large section is included for three main reasons, to build suspense before the high paced montage, to show some graphic images to give the viewer an insight into its gory nature , and to finalize the trailers narrative in terms of voice-overs.

The shots included in this section are high angle shots of blood in a sink, dark medium shots of a shadow in a doorway, close up shots of a bloody hand and shoe and a steady cam shot of a boot with a blood trail. These shots are included to work with the sound composition that I created; the guttural screams, slams and whispers as well as the long continuous sound of wind getting louder until suddenly stopping at the very beginning of the fast paced montage.

This long section would not work if the sound and images where not carefully combined together in this way. They are constructed solely to build suspense, and the concluding none diagetic voiceover and sounds with the lines ‘up above the world so high’ and ‘now its time for you to die’, add to this effect.

Section Four

Section four is the highly paced montage of horrific images accompanied by loud none diagetic quick shudder sounds. This section builds on the suspense created in the previous one and finally puts a face to the child that the viewer has so far not seen properly. The face is seen in a mirror and really adds to the anticipation as we almost expect to see another shadowy figure behind him. The montage of shocking images and the pace that they are presented, are designed to instill in the viewer a sense of shock.

Section Five

This is another connecting section used to slow the pace down slightly before revealing the name of the film. In this section we used four shots of the child moving closer to the camera, from long shot to two medium shots and finally a close up in a very dark mise-en-scene, accompanied by a boom in sound every time the shot changed. After this medium paced montage is ended another text frame is seen displaying the name of the film.

As previously stated we included this effect to connect the fast paced section with the final one. Without this the trailer would move too quickly from a very high paced sequence to a slower paced one, making it look unprofessional.

Section Six

This is the final sequence in the trailer consisting of three very important frames. The first is a medium shot of a girl covered in blood crawling from around a corner before being dragged away to the diagetic sound of a guttural scream. This shot then fades into the final text frame displaying the words ‘coming soon’. The final shot is a close up of the child blowing out the candle that we have seen him looking at during the trailer . This is accompanied by none diagetic whispers until he quickly blows it out thus defining the sudden end to the piece. It is the intention that this final sequence leaves the viewer so intrigued that they desire to see more.