Textual Analysis of 'The Others' Film Trailer

The trailer that accompanies The Others film follows the same codes and conventions that the film poster does so that the theme and feel for the film is consistent. The median is film in the form of a trailer.The trailer starts with a woman’s voice speaking, which is the main character in the film. She begins speaking before the trailer has even started and while the dimension films logo is still on the screen. This sort of makes the dialogue non diegetic because the viewer would not expect to hear anything before the trailer has started. Maybe they have done this intentionally to surprise the viewer, which could indicate that there are more shocks and surprises to come later in the trailer or film. The woman’s voice says ‘Are you sitting comfortably, then I shall begin…’ This dialogue is very effective because it shows that a story is going to be told and as it is a rhetorical question aimed directly at the audience, it grabs their attention from the beginning. It gives the viewer an impression of the woman that she could be a mother as it sounds like she is telling a story and her voice sounds soft and calm. This makes the viewers make assumptions about the characters and interests them.

The shot fades in and shows an establishing shot of an old creepy looking house surrounded by fog. The camera is slowly moving away from the house this could suggest to the viewer that something bad has happened in the house and they should stay away from it. As it is surrounded by mist and fog it instantly shows the genre of the film. The music playing in the background of the trailer is quiet and spooky. These factors build up tension and add to the ideology and connotation they are trying to create.

Each shot fades out and goes onto show inside the house. The woman’s voice can still be heard and it sounds like she is talking to someone. It then fades out again and three new characters are introduced; an old man and woman and a young girl. The woman is talking to them about how the servants have disappeared. This confirms the viewer’s suspicions that something has happened in the house. The woman introduces the three people to her children who are standing under a dim lamp. This relates the trailer to the film poster because the same lamp from the poster can be seen in the trailer being held by the woman. The old woman leans down and introduces herself to the children as their ‘new nanny.’

After every scene it fades out, maybe this has been used to symbolise and relate with the disappearance of the servants or link with the theme of death in the film. It then shows the daughter speaking to the nanny asking her if she was going to leave them like ‘the others’. The daughter has a quite frightening aura and she seems quite disturbed for a young girl. The viewer can tell this by what she talks about and how she talks. The daughter says ‘And then it happened’ this makes the viewer very curious about what has ‘happened’. The music then gets louder and scarier to build up more tension and give the feeling of panic. The scenes get shorter to show the nerves of the characters and help the viewer relate to the characters.
Over the shoulder shots are used to show conversation between the characters, high angle shots are used to make characters look vulnerable particularly the young son because he is very scared when his sister tells him that a young boy called ‘Victor’ has opened the curtains as they are sleeping. This scares him because the children have an allergy to light. By telling her brother this it makes the viewer think that there might be ghosts in the house and adds to the creepiness of the daughter’s character.

A conversation is shown between the daughter and her nanny where the nanny tells her that she has seen the people in the house too. She says ‘Sometimes the world of the dead gets mixed up with the world of the living.’ This quote is important because it shows the viewer what the film will be about and makes them imagine the different possibilities for the storyline and plot. The nanny says ‘Sooner or later she will see them and everything will be different.’ She is talking about the mother because while she is talking there is a pan shot of the woman looking around a room in the house, she looks very scared and it is as if she doesn’t recognise the room. This shows that the people in the house have changed the house around and moved things. This could suggest to the viewer that they are not ghosts but they could be poltergeists because they are known for moving things around. The shots change much quicker and almost flash on and off the screen, the music gets louder and faster. The shots suddenly stop and show a shot of the woman looking in a mirror, the camera zooms in to shows a door reflected in the mirror, the images of the woman is blurred and the camera focuses on the door that is mysteriously moving without anyone being there. This shows the viewer that the action is about to take place and there is definitely something in the house with them. The woman, whose voice was very calm at the beginning of the trailer has now suddenly become frightened and full of panic, this makes the viewers relate to how she is feeling and sense her fear. It also shows that change is another theme within the film. An example of change in the film is when in the beginning she thinks her house is being haunted by ghosts but then discovers that she is actually a ghost.

Close up shots are used to show drawings that have been done by the daughter. The drawings are of the people that she sees in the house. The viewer can see that the daughter is a very important character in the film and as she is the main person to see the ‘ghosts’ the audience may suspect that she is a mysterious and creepy character.
A lot of the shots that are shown from the film are of the mother in panic about what is happening in her house. This scares the viewer and shows them that the film is full of shocks.

After every shocking revelation that is made in the film the scenes then begin to flash quicker onto the screen. Many of the props shown include religious symbols and figures, this shows that religion is a key theme within the film. In the film the woman is very religious and believes that if her and her children do not live their life properly that they will be punished by going to hell when they die. More dialogue is used towards the end of the trailer where it shows the main action that takes place in the film. The woman is frantic and is shouting at the ‘ghosts’ in the house. The daughter’s frightening behaviour is consistent throughout the trailer as she appears not to be scared of the intruders in the house.

Scenes are shown where the mother and her children are running outside and it is very dark and foggy like in the opening scene, in the background silhouettes can be seen behinds them. Silhouettes are used to create a mysterious feel and intrigue the viewer. Now the characters are in danger high angle shots are used to create the feeling of insecurity. The woman’s voice can be heard shouting to her children to run.
There is then a scene of the front door and the silhouettes of the three servants can be seen. As this is a spooky image combined with the woman shouting it makes the viewer think that the servants could also be trying to hurt the woman and her children. By doing this it makes the viewer think about different possibilities that could occur in the film and make it seem less predictable.

Images of the house flash on the screen and then there is an image of a scary looking old woman, this is the only image we see of her so it introduces a new character to the film but the viewers do not know who she is. The screen then blackens and you can hear an old woman saying, ‘Sooner or later they will find you.’ This is significant because this is the quote that can be seen at the top of the film poster. ‘The Others’ then appears on the black screen like light creeping through cracks. At the very end of the trailer there is another short scene from the film where the woman sees her daughter as an old woman; this is done to show the viewer that the film is not as predictable as it seems by suggesting that there could be a dark side to all of the characters and to give the final twist. The date when the film is in cinemas is then shown on the screen in block capitals and eventually fades out to end the trailer.

The scenes from the film that have been included in the trailer are mainly all in order in which they happen in the film. Excluding the very last scene where the little girl looks like an old woman because this was before some of the scenes shown before. They have included quite a lot in the trailer and the audience watching has got quite a good synopsis of the film, although what they didn’t include was the final twist when it shows that the woman and her children are actually the ghosts in the house. The reason they haven’t included this is because they want to save it to when people watch the film to shock them. If they had included this then there wouldn’t have been any point of people going to watch the film because the main twist would have been given away.

The trailer relates a lot to the film poster and the ideologies, codes and conventions are fluent and consistent throughout both. They have enabled this to happen because of their use of props; the same lamp that can be seen in the poster is shown in the trailer. The props in the trailer also represent the date in which the film is set. The lighting throughout the trailer is also very dim and some scenes are set in darkness, this mirrors the trailer because the only light that can be seen is coming from the lamp and the rest of the composition is in complete darkness.

In conclusion, I think that the film poster and trailer both combine well together and successfully portray the film in the way that it was intended. Themes are consistent between both and the same ideologies can be seen and recognised throughout each median.