TEXTUAL RESEARCH 1

The Strangers- TrailerThe following trailer is of the 2008 horror movie The Strangers, it features around 75-80 slow and fast paced shots. It gives a brief, yet compelling overview of what the film is based around, and enhances the interest in the film to people, helping make it a success not only in box office, but in later sales when it is released on DVD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrlgW4MAFCA&feature=fvst

Producing a trailer for a movie is a crucial aspect of marketing a movie, as it is a visual aid for the potential consumers of the film, to help prompt them into wanting to watch it.

The Strangers- TrailerLocations- There is only really one location in the movie The Strangers, which is the cabin in the woods that the couple are staying at. I think the fact it only has one location makes the trailer easy to follow, whereas other trailers that have so many different locations it’s really hard to keep track of what is happening and makes it hard to grasp what the movie is really about. But this trailer keeping it simple makes it so much easier because you know where they are at all times, and it’s easier to follow. But on the other hand only having one location can be a bit of a down fall because of the fact that it doesn’t make the movie look that interesting.

But something like this would be more realistic and easy for me to make.

The Strangers- TrailerPace- The pace of the trailer is rather slow throughout the first minute, in the first 30 seconds you still don’t really know what it’s about, it seems like a love story at first, but then when the tone of the music changes, you know the storyline is about to as well. Suddenly the pace starts to pick up and the shots start to go from 2 seconds per shot, to 1 second per shot, and then it starts getting to less than 1, second per shot.

This is good for a trailer, making the shots really quick, because as the shots are getting quicker the tension is growing higher, and when the trailer ends it’s one of those things where you just can’t help but want to watch the full thing to see what happens.

I think the pace of trailers are very important, because the pace is what keeps you on the edge of your seats, and for horror movies a fast pace is very important because it’s creating the tension and making you want to watch more.

The Strangers- TrailerCamerawork- In the first shot of the house outside, you can tell it’s hand held, I think they used hand held for this particular shot because they were trying to portray it as if it was point-of-view, this made it look like someone is standing there looking at the house. There are also a lot of close-up shots on the faces of the couple in the trailer, I think they do this because they really want to show the viewers of the trailer the genuine expression of fear on the character’s faces. This helps portray the real ‘horror’ of the film.

The Strangers- TrailerDiegetic Sound- One thing that was clever in the trailer was when they showed the record playing, they had it at first seeming like it was diegetic sound like it was actually playing so the characters hearing it, and then in the trailer when you see the record get knocked it then becomes none diegetic sound and it seems as if the record is stuck. And I thought that was actually really clever the way they did it. Also a lot of the speech throughout the trailer is either whispering or full on screaming, this is obviously giving away that the characters are fearful.

Non- Diegetic Sound- In the trailer the non-diegetic sounds that I noticed were things such as the music in the background, it started off this slightly creepy yet calming sort of nursery rhyme, and then turned into this western dramatic but creepy song. Another bit of non-diegetic sound, was at the end, there was a voice-over when one of the scary faces was on the screen and it was“Why are you doing this to us?”And then one of the killers replied “because you were home”.

The Strangers- TrailerLogos- The logos that appeared in the trailer of the film were to start of with the ‘Rogue Pictures’ logo and the ‘Intrepid Pictures’ , this is obviously to show viewers the production companies of the movie, these were the only logos to appear in the trailer so obviously they were the only ones it was felt nessaccary to have in there.

Intertitles- there were just these three intertitles, I think intertitles are really good, because in trailers normally there isn’t really a lot of speech, so I think intertitles are a good way of getting things across through words.

The Strangers- TrailerMise- en- scene- The whole trailer had like an orangy yellow glow, sort of like candle light. I think that’s what gives it such an unnerving creepy glow, because as well as candle light being associated with romance, there is also something very dark and it makes things mysterious. The masks that the killers wear are what make the film so creepy and scary and makes it a true horror. I think without the masks, yes, the movie would be scary but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as scary as it is with them. Because the creepiest thing is that you can’t see there faces, there’s no expression, just these masks, you don’t know what they look like, and I think that’s the most horrifying thing about the film.

There were only 5 actors in the trailer of this, so it would also be a good idea to do something like this because obviously I wouldn’t need many actors so it would be easy to stay consistant.

The Strangers- Movie Poster The text on this poster is rather creepy, like

how the title of the film, it looks like the letters have been carved out and that there’s a bright light shining through the cracks, which is rather creepy. And then above the heads is a quote from the movie where the woman out of the main couple asks “why are you doing this to us” and she is replied to with “because you were home” I think that particular quote has been put on there because that is why the film is so twisted and scary, because these people aren’t killing for revenge, they aren’t killing because they’re protecting themselves, they aren’t killing them because they’re trying to steal stuff, they are simply trying to kill them because they were at home, and that is the scariest thing about the film.

The Strangers- Movie Poster The Layout of the poster is where it has the

main image filling the whole page, and the title of the film about ¾ of the way down the page. I think that they’ve placed the main title there because the first thing you’re going to look at when you look at this poster is the image, all people do, and if I’m correct the first thing about the image you’re going to notice is the three people in creepy masks, so you’ll look at that first, then the two people sat in front of them and then you’re going to notice the title of the movie. I believe that’s why it has been lay out that way. Then you have the creepy little line above the heads of the scary people on the image.

The Strangers- Movie Poster The colours used on this poster are very meak

and bland. Even the colours of the killers clothes are boring and don’t stand out, but I think that’s the point, if those people weren’t wearing those masks, and with the way they’re dressed, if they were just stood there normally, they’d just look like any ordinary family in America, they wouldn’t look scary at all. The backlight and the colour of the writing are like orange/yellow colours, again just like I said in the movie it makes it look like candle light, and that’s rather creepy.

The Strangers- Movie Poster The only thing that is really mentioned on the

poster are the actors of the couple under attack. And a few of the production companies logos are shown at the bottom of the page.

Magazine Cover

The text of the name of the magazine looks like it has been created to fit in with the background of the main image on the magazine. Then the rest of the writing is either in silver or red. The title of the magazine is the largest text on the magazine cover because people need to know straight away what magazine they are reading.

Then the title INCEPTION is the next thing that catches your eye because you need to know the title of the magazine.

Magazine Cover

The layout of the magazine cover is it has the main image on the background and then the name of the magazine right at the top of the page so it is very noticable and the first thing you see. Then it has the word INCEPTION on there at practically the centre of the page.

Magazine Cover

The main colours that are used are blue, silver and red, the blue gives it a mysterious sort of look, and the silver gives it a technical stylish look, and then the red, makes it look dangerous. These colours suit the movie well and look really good and definitely catch people’s eyes easily.