The ring trailer analysis

Link to trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5CvZGv8yNs

The Trailer for the ring is 2 minutes 10 seconds long ,it begins with the “green Screen” which is typical for most trailers and something we will include in our own teaser trailer. The scene then goes into a mechanical sequence ,it looks like the insides of a video tape recorder. A voice over then comes in and says “Have you heard about the video tape that kills you when you watch it”. This establishes the brief plot and the genre already. allowing the audience to understand the direction the film will take without giving to much away. The trailer then fades to a black screen and then the ring comes up along with an eerie squeak sound, which is like a stereotypical sci-fi sound effect ,this adds another dimension to the genre. The voice over continues to explain the tape, therefore building tension. The trailer then goes fuzzy, like a television with no reception ,then there is a quick cut to gushing water, and then another quick transition to a women combing her hair. It then goes fuzzy again. These images are subjective and don’t really make sense as a sequence. This makes it seem more of a psychological thriller as it is already making the audience question what things mean ,and playing with their mind. This makes it eerie but intriguing at the same time.

The scene then does a fade from black to, two girls, one of them who was the voice over in the earlier scene continues to explain to her friend about how you die in 7 days after watching the tape. The camera then shows a close up of the friend emphasising her worried expression. It then fades out to black. The dream works logo then comes up, which is a well known and established institution. The background music is spooky and discord and creates an atmosphere. The next scene shows a rainy street, which acts as pafetic fallacy where the weather reflects the mood. Two figures are standing opposite each other. The camera zooms into a young boy. He seems cold and distant and the audience feel nervous of his presence. The scene then quickly changes location to a women (Rachel) she seems worried and is talking about the young boy from the earlier scene, There is close ups of her and him to reflect emotion or lack of it in the boys case. The phone rings and interrupts the conversation, the young boy is yet to speak, but the audience are now fully aware he has a major part to play in the film. It is though hard to establish whether he is the antagonist or protagonist.

Next there is a side, eye level view of a girl staring at a fuzzy television screen. the sequence then goes back and forth from that girl, to the young boy again .The audience are put on edge at this part, by the young boy, and also the mention of death, which are connotations for horror movies. We are uneasy as we don’t get a stereotypical sense of innocence from the child. The next scene we see a close up of a hand reaching for a door handle, this is stereotypical for horrors/thrillers as it builds tension. The scene then is fast past with a sequence of clips this also builds tension, it goes back to the young boy, and then to Rachel who is with a man he is in silhouette which creates a mysterious atmosphere. There is still eerie music at this point ,the camera zooms onto a shelf of seemingly normal videos, there is one that is placed differently to the others to catch the audiences eye. We then see Rachel take the “eerie” video .Soon after Rachel puts the video on, and the audience immediately recognise the image of the ring. Rachel watches the tape and then there is a close up of the phone as it rings, Rachel panics and answers hesitantly. A strange voice then says “7 days” . Rachel looks uneasy and the audience now know Rachel has watched the deadly tape

.Next we see the man from earlier asking to see the tape ,he doesn’t believe the rumours. The audience feel he may be a hero figure of the film. There is next a close up of him putting the tape in and then a view from behind him as he watches it, the mise-en-sence is his apartment. And of course the same thing happens to him and the phone rings. By this point the main characters and plot have been established. There is then a close up of the young boy again, who pretends to be asleep, and slowing opens his eyes, the audience are put on edge by him. The location and scene change to a nurse telling Rachel, she is bothered by some drawings the audience conclude they are by the young boy, There is then a close up of one of the strange crayon drawings. There is then a scene of the boy holding a picture of the house. Rachel asks him “Why did you draw that house ?” and he relies “She told me to”. This makes the audience feel there is some sort of supernatural creature involved and we begin to understand why the boy seems so withdrawn.

Next we see a zooming upward shot from the bottom of a well up through out the top. The scene fades to white, there is then a weird and scary sequence of images including the ring, a girl in a mirror, water and a eye, these are hard to make out and I had to watch it a few times to actually see them. It creates a tense atmosphere and unnerves the audience by showing images with a subjective meaning. Next we see a room it is white and looks like a psychiatric ward, Rachel is sitting in it, around the room there is wires and a camera and it is quite disturbing, I feel the earlier disorganised images could have been used to represent Rachel’s mind set. There is a backing non diegectic sound effect and it sounds like someone screaming. Next we hear a voice say “When you die you see the ring”, then the Young boy is shown surrounded by pictures of the ring which he has drawn.

We then see Rachel reflecting, and sitting on the bed holding the tape, there is a quick change of mood with someone hitting some floor boards with an axe the scene then goes black .A close up of a emotionless, eerie eye follows and then the young boy shows a hint of emotion as he tells Rachel “you don’t understand” Rachel looks bewildered and it proves the boy knows something .The next scene is of a man asking Rachel “What do you know”, this is followed by a shot of icy blue sea, which adds a sense of danger .The camera then pans up to a silhouetted landscape of a mountain with a building on it. We then see Rachel walking around in a similar surrounding. It looks cold and frosty adding to the atmosphere and using pafetic fallacy again. The quote “before you die ,you see the ring” is repeated again. The audience are put on edge by this .Rachel then reaches to a girl who is laying down the audience get ready to jump but it is a red herring ,and the scene changes quickly. There is a extreme close up of an eye and the pupil dilates as though someone is in shock. We soon after see the strange women from the tape again, who brushes her hair. There is next a faced paced scene, which is speeded up of a tree on a hill. The scene cuts out to a fuzzy image again. The sequence is quite confusing and adds to the overall effect of a psychological thriller.

We then see a close up of a distressed Rachel ,a man kicking over his TV and a horse running this is strange sequence again which generates panic. Next we see Rachel in a pool if water and then another fuzzy screen and a out of focus image of a figure this is hard to capture. The Scene then cuts to sum sort of countdown on a digital clock .There is then another faced paced sequence literally expressing panic.It doesn’t make sense but the audience get the sense of danger .We see a black and white image of someone falling backwards off a cliff. The ring then comes up again. The title comes up in the middle of the ring in a childlike ,eerie font. There is then a image of Rachel screaming but her scream is muted out and then is a strange non-diegetic scream put in instead. The scene then goes fuzzy and coming soon comes up, white on a black screen the website then comes up in the same font and colour scheme showing consistency

This trailer was very successful,and i think one of the best i have seen,it was hard to make sense of in some parts but that was its aim and made me want to watch the film,it established plot and genre early on and the audience seem to be drawn in by the pace and structure of the trailer.




28 DAYS LATER:
Link to trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHdpbR4CM_k

This is the teaser trailer for 28 days later ,it is 1.30 long which is marginally shorter than the theatrical trailer. The trailer begins with the institution logo which is “fox searchlight productions”. The screen then goes to black and “on the first day “ appears ,the sound effect of a warning siren can be easily heard. The word exposure then comes up onto the black screen, a scream can be heard. Exposure’s writing is in a white font this makes it stand out easily on the contrasting black background. The screen then fades to black. Then next scene is of a women it is a quick scene and the camera shot is used to emphasis something heading towards the women ,it looks like a effect that would happen if you zoomed in but then moved the camera backwards. Day 3 then flashes up on the black screen followed by the word infection. The fonts are the same as before and throughout to create a relating theme. The sound effects are a series of screams and stereotypical horror sound effects. There is the a scene of people running these scene flashes back and forth to black then back to the scene of people running to a nearby car. The lighting is dark to create a atmosphere. The genre is most defiantly established by this point. Day 8 then comes up, but shoots straight to a girl, who looks in pain or danger. The camera has a disorientated effect to reflect the overall mood of that sequence. There is then a close up of the girls face to show emotion. The scene fades to black and the word Epidemic flashes up. Next there is a long angle shot of people running and leaping over the camera. The lighting is dark and the sound effects are muffled this creates tension and adds to the sense of panic.

There is then a shot of a confused girl, the camera is high angel to emphasis her vulnerability .She is holding a torch which hit’s the lens of the camera to put the audience on the scene and make them feel alarmed and puzzled also. Afterwards Day 15 comes up, there is a shot of people running and clever use of lighting adds to the fear and urgency .It also makes the people look silhouetted, adding a sense of mystery .There is then a low angled shot of a persons feet/legs running, just to emphasis the scene. The word evacuation comes up ,with the backing sound effects of police or emergency sirens. There is then a very quick odd shot of a snowy/rainy scene ,with something hitting the camera, its hard to make out but I assume its there to make the audience jump. Subsequently Day 20 appears, followed by a shot of an explosion ,the explosion is show in a sequence first close up, long shot then birds eye vie shot, to emphasis the magnitude of it .There is a quick transition to an extreme close up of someone’s eye opening. The word devastation then comes up and comes closer to the screen adding extra significance to the word. A man is then seen getting up ,he is attached to wires and looks as thought he is in some sort of hospital or lab. The scene goes black and 28 days comes up like it has before with the previous days ,but this time 28 days later… comes up afterwards instead of another describing word. There is then a close up of the man cautiously opening blinds. There is then a high angle shot of a lone man in a white building, this adds helplessness.

There is then a low angle shot of phones hanging off there hooks swinging, this emphasis the seclusion the man is experiencing and makes the audience ask questions like why is he the only person around therefore making them want to see the film ,to get the answers. The scene then fades to black and there is an over the shoulder shot of the man followed by a close up when he turns around. Big Ben is visible in the background, consequently making it realistic and a relatable place. The man then shouts hello a few times with no reply. There is a high angle shot of an empty street to just to highlight the ideology of the isolation again. There is then a long shot of turned over London bus with no sign of people, adding a s sense of disaster to the film. There is then a sequence of fade in and out shots all there to emphasis the mans remoteness over again. The title then comes up in red over a black screen which is a common horror theme. Two red eyes fade in then out either side of the title, these have a connection to the poster which relates the two medians. There is background music which is eerie and discord, but not typically scary .The screen stays black when the title fades out “from the director of The Beach and Trainspotting” comes up, this adds reliability to the director and attracts people of his previous work. There is then a close up of the same man again looking bewildered, the scene is dark but there is light reflecting off his face. “The days are numbered” then comes up white on a black screen. The teaser trailer ends with something run toward the camera .This makes the audience jump, coming soon then comes up. This trailer is successful, especially the use of narrative text as it adds a whole other dimension to the film.