Analysis of 'Haute Tension' (Switchblade Romance) trailer

The trailer begins by introducing us to the characters Alexia and Marie, as we see them driving in their car as they go to stay with Alexia’s family in their farmhouse. We are shown a clip of the sun setting over a farm and a car driving in the sunset, we can tell it’s a farm because of the iconography shown, such as the silhouette of a water tower and the cornfield. We assume the girls are very close by the shot of the pair in the car as they look at each other lovingly. Everything seems calm and relaxed at this point, as daylight connotes safety. They arrive at the house at night time and they soon settle in. We are shown clips of Marie getting ready for bed, and then a shot of a car driving in the dark, with only the bright headlights visible. Tension is starting to build at this point, as when we watch Marie get ready for bed, every sound seems louder, and creating an atmosphere that makes us feel very aware of her surroundings. As she enters her room we see an extreme close up of the curtains as the wind blows through them, at the same time we hear the wind quite loudly. We then have the creaking of the door and floorboard as she walks in, and the sound of the light turning on is also amplified. Because of the atmosphere created, when we see the shot of the cars headlights, we assume as the audience that something is about to happen. A close up shot of Marie is shown, showing her expression as she hears the car pull up, we then see a close up shot of someone’s finger repeatedly pressing on the doorbell, and then a dog barking angrily and scratching the door and the pet bird in its cage getting unsettled. We assume that whoever was driving that car, is now at the house, and that something awful is about to happen, which is shown through the animals reactions. In the background, we also hear the high pitched sound of metal, which also adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere. We are shown a shot of the Dad running down the stairs, and then an over the shoulder shot as he opens the door. We then see a close up of his face as he looks at whoever is at the door. We are yet to see this person, but the emotion we see on the Dad’s face makes the audience understand that he is not a nice character. We then see a shot from an upstairs window of the man murdering the Dad. As the murderer swings the blade forward, it then cuts to a shot of Marie upstairs watching out the window and then jumping backwards. We hear people screaming downstairs, so we understand that the killer is in the house. We see Marie rushing around the room trying to make it appear as though no one has been staying there. The series of jump cuts shows her packing up her bag, movie the wardrobe, making the bed, and cleaning the sink. At the same time, Parallel editing shows shots of someone slowly walking up the stairs. Having the killer slowly walking up the stairs contrasting with Marie rushing around, it adds tension. Marie stands in the bathroom, her back to the shower with the shower curtains shut, she then looks paranoid and spins around to shut them. We see a shot of the killer turning the door handle, and then another shot of him walking into the room. We are still yet to see his face, but we see a series of close ups of his hand, as he walks into the room carrying the blade, another as he checks the sink (I assume it’s to see whether anyone has been in that room, which also explains why Marie was desperately cleaning the room.) We hear him growl under his breath as we see the shadow of his hand getting closer and closer to the shower curtain. The audience assume at this point that Marie chose to hide behind there and so seeing him sneaking up to the curtain scares the audience and creates tension. As he opens it, we see a shot of him from behind looking into an empty bathtub. He then walks around the bed, and lifts the edge of the mattress. Seeing no one underneath, he slams it back down and walks off. We then see an extreme close up of Marie as she remains hidden under the bed with her hand covering her mouth. She is hidden is darkness, connoting fear. We then see Marie sneak down to the kitchen, fumble around in a drawer, and then slowly, pull out a sharp knife. We hear the sound of the blade as it creates more atmosphere. At what appears to be a truck stop, we see Marie hiding behind a wall, the knife raised above her head almost as if she’s waiting for the killer to walk past so she can stab them. This introduces us to a montage of clips from the rest of the movie, making it look action packed and scary. Such as a car chase where the car flips and crashes, an axe swinging, Alexia being chased, someone hiding, a gun, the killer with a chainsaw, and Marie stood there looking tough.

At the beginning of the trailer, the only setting seems to be the farmhouse, but we are then introduced to other locations that connote isolation, such as a forest, and a truck stop late at night. By having a truck stop though, it adds realism to the locations, making the audience feel more connected. Most of the locations all seem to be rural and out in the country, which also suggest isolation.

Camera work has been used a lot in this trailer, for example the way we don’t actually ever see the killers face, but only close ups of his hand or the weapons he is holding.

The character of Marie almost fits the idea of the final girl theory, as we assume she survives as most of the trailer has her in so she must be in the whole film. But she also doesn’t fit the conventions of a normal girl, again making her seem like she could fit the final girl role. She is more masculine than other girls with her cropped hair cut, and she wears boyish clothes. She also takes on the tough guy role by the end of the trailer, so we know she’s not as girly as other characters. However, normally, the final girl theory applies to girls who are innocent and unsexualised, however, by the way we see the girls looking at each other, we assume there is something going on between them, and so she appears to be very open with her sexuality.

Because it is only a trailer and not the entire movie, it is difficult to apply Narrative theories to it.

We could suggest that Tolorov’s ‘Equilibrium’ theory can work, as at the beginning of the trailer everything seems calm and normal, and then suddenly we enter the disequilibrium and things become out of control. The trailer doesn’t want to spoil the movie, and so we don’t know the ending, so we do not know if a new equilibrium is created.

We only see a limited set of characters in the trailer, and don’t actually know what’s going on. After reading up on the film, I discovered that Alexia is kidnapped and Marie goes to save her. This helps us with Vladimir Propp’s theory.

1.       The villain- is obviously the murderer.

2.       The Hero- is Marie as she is the one who goes after the killer.

3.       There doesn’t seem to be a Donor.

4.       There doesn’t seem to be a helper, other than the short clip we see of Alexia fighting the killer, suggesting she is aiding Marie is killing him.

5.       The Princess- Alexia is the sought after person who Marie is trying to rescue.

6.       Her Father- is a character, but he doesn’t really reward the hero as he Is murdered.

7.       There doesn’t seem to be a dispatcher.

8.       The false hero- We didn’t see many characters so we have no way to know whether there is a false hero.

There are lots of example of binary opposition that could be related to the movie, such as:

·         Good/ Evil- Marie appears to be a good character as she goes to rescue Alexia, whereas The murderer has no reason to be killing people.

·         Light/ Dark- At the start of the film in the daylight everything seems calm, whereas in the darkness that’s where the violence starts.

·         Known/ Unknown- We do not know who the murderer is, or why he is murdering everyone. Also this can relate to what we see in the trailer, as some parts are unknown to us.

The Bordwell and Thompson theory can help us in understanding the story. For example, we assume the girls are close and possibly even lovers from the way they look at each other in the car. From what we see, we know that there is a story behind them and that something has happened in the past. The trailer doesn’t give much away however so it’s difficult for the audience assume other things from the information we are given.

Because of the emotions we see on the characters face, Kuleshov’s theory of placing different shots next to each other helps the audience understand what’s going on. A key example of this is when the Dad opens the door and we have a close up of his face. If he has smiled, the audience would have assumed that this is a friendly character whom he knows, however, because of the tension building up to this point and his negative face, we assume that something bad is going to happen.

Narrative Theories and Halloween

Tzvetan Todorov

The film Halloween does follow the narrative structure of Todorov’s ‘Equilibrium’ theory, as it follows the structure of ‘Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and then New Equilibrium’. At the very beginning of the movie we see Michael Myers murder his sister, which does automatically cause disequilibrium, but this is only used to explain the story to the audience so that as the movie unfolds they will understand. In the film, a few scenes later, we see that time has changed to ’15 years later’. We could suggest that this is where the movie really begins. At this point we see the normal life of a teenager named Laurie, an innocent, smart girl, and her friends. They have normal lives, Laurie babysits an 8 year old boy, and her friends being more rebellious sleep with their boyfriends and smoke joints. This is all part of the Equilibrium. As the plot continues and the character of Michael Myers in introduced to the girls, things become more complicated as he begins to murder them. This is the Disequilibrium. At the end of the movie we see Michael Myers get shot by Doctor Loomis. Whereas this would normally become the New Equilibrium, as it is the end of the disequilibrium, in one shot we see Myers laying there dead, and in another his body is no longer there. This New Equilibrium acts as a circle and the theory begins all over again, leaving room for the next movie to begin. This theory inspired the “Classical Hollywood Narrative” of simply a beginning, middle and end. However in Todorov’s theory, we could argue that there are actually five stages. Firstly the state of equilibrium, where everything is as it should be, secondly a disruption of this order, which in Halloweens case would be Myers escaping the sanitarium, thirdly recognition of this disruption, e.g. the girls being stalked by Myers as they walk home. Fourthly, an attempt to repair the damage of the disruption, this can be where Laurie herself is desperately fighting for her life. And lastly, the restoration of the New Equilibrium, which is where life continues after we believe Myers, is dead.

Vladimir Propp

Propp’s theory follows the Morphology of the folk tale, where he discovered that each one followed the same structure of have 8 character roles.  It is difficult to link this to the movie Halloween, as there is only a limited set of characters, so it is possible in this case it doesn’t work:

·         The Villain- Obviously in ‘Halloween’, this would be Michael Myers, as he is a psychopathic murderer. At the beginning of the film, we see him as a child murdering his own sister, and then throughout the film he murders many other innocent victims.

·         The Hero- I would suggest that the hero is, although there isn’t an actual ‘hero’ type character. Dr. Loomis as it is he throughout the film that chases Myers across the country after he leaves the sanitarium and follows the clues in order to catch him in time. It is also him in the end that shoots Myers.

·         The Donor- Would normally provide an object with magic property.

·         The Helper who aids the hero-

·         The Princess- We could suggest that Laurie is the princess as she is the damsel in distress and appears to be a main victim of Myers as he stalks her throughout the day. At the end when she tries to be her own hero and fight him, she isn’t actually successful and ends up relying on Dr. Loomis to shoot him in order to be saved.

·         The Father- This character would normally reward the hero.

·         The false hero.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative theory in terms of Binary oppositions, for example, sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. We can use this theory quite well when it comes to Halloween:

·         Good/ Evil- Myers is obviously an evil character, which contrasts with the goodness of the other characters.

·         Past/ Present- In the past Myers as a child murdered his sister, and in the present as an adult where we see he has physically grown up, he is still a murderer.

·         Sanity/ Insanity- Laurie fits the role of a typically Sane character, whereas Myers is obviously Insane.

·         Virgin/ Sexually active-  Laurie is a virgin and innocent

·         Innocent/ Corrupted- This can be expressed in several ways: firstly, how Tommy, being a child is innocent, whereas when we see Myers as a child, he is obviously corrupted as it leads him to murder his sister. Secondly, we see Laurie is innocent and her friend Annie is corrupted sexually.

·         Known/ Unknown

·         Natural/ Supernatural

·         Human/ Monster

These binary oppositions almost comment on the Zeitgeist. Halloween was created at a time where Reagan was President of the United States and had caused uproar in the country. Because of this people were ironically finding safety in the horror films because of the threat of nuclear war at the time. The mask Myers actually wears is supposed to be the face of Ronald Reagan, though it is not that obvious.

Bordwell/ Thompson

The fact that Myers murders his sister causes a chain of events that leads to him being locked in an Asylum for fifteen years, these events we do not actually see, but we know about simply because of what Dr. Loomis tells us.

We can see examples of parallel editing where Laurie is sat in the house watching a horror movie with the children she is babysitting, whereas at the same time down the street her friends are being murdered.

Summary: Out of all four theories, the theory I find is most successful with the movie ‘Halloween’ is Levi-Strauss’ binary opposition theory.

'Sinister' Trailer Analysis

I chose to analyse the trailer for a new Horror Movie called ‘Sinister’ because I feel as a trailer, it successfully does its job of scaring the audience and making them want to see the film.

It begins with a shot of the house at night time and a voiceover from a news story explaining how ‘a local family was murdered.’ We then cut to an image of the family, with one of the children in the photo being circled in red with a question mark, suggesting unlike the family, she wasn’t murdered. It also cuts quickly to shots of a pagan symbol (which we later learn is important in the plot of the movie) and also to a child’s drawing of the family being hung from a tree. The child’s drawing adds a sense of shock to the trailer, as children are meant to be innocent, and for them to be drawing this type of subject matter unsettles the audience.

The words ‘9 Months Later’ then appear on the screen, and we see a shot of the same house, however this time in broad daylight and a moving truck out front. The contrast between the shot of the house in daylight and the one in darkness shows that time has passed, and also the darkness in the previous shot connotes evil and bad, which was obviously relevant.

We then see a series of shots of a family moving into the house. We learn that they had to move to this house because of money issues and also ‘the new story he’s writing is here.’ Everything seems happy and normal with the family as they do typical things such as sit around the table together for dinner and the Dad putting the young daughter to bed and the husband kissing the wife. The conversation has a positive tone as he says how ‘He’s gonna write the best book anyones ever read.’ And  he ‘has a really good feeling about this.’

Up until this point in the trailer, there had been music quietly in the background. But here is suddenly stops, and we are left with a drum beat and then more slow building music. This builds tension as the scene shows him climibing into the attic and discovering an old box of home videos left by the previous owner. The words ‘From the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious’ come up on the screen- both are very successful movies. We see a series of jump cuts of clips of him setting up the projector and eventually playing the home movies. As the home film plays a movie of the previous family in the garden playing, and a girl on the tyre swing, we see the man’s reactions as he watches. It suddenly cuts to a short quick clip of the family being hung from a tree. The music sounds like a tape breaking at this point and becomes loud, shocking the audience. We know as an audience that the family that was hung is the same one in the child’s drawing at the beginning. The man ­reacts to what he sees and suddenly jumps up, knocking the projector over.

It cuts to a clip where he is discussing with a police officer whether he thinks these are a series of serial murders. At the same time we are shown a clip of a truck in the 60’s being set alight with the family inside. A loud scream is played at the same time, adding to the shock of the clip. We then see an extreme close up of the mans eyes, showing his emotion as he watches, the reflections of the flames shown in his glasses. There is then a small montage of different clips throughout all the home movies, showing the pagan symbol that is found in them all. We discover this is related to the pagan deity named Bahgul, who supposedly eats and possesses the souls of children. This imagine adds a sense of supernatural to the trailer, which so far has been shock and mystery. The music builds up as we see a clip of a young boy climb into a pool, and then it stops suddenly leaving a high pitched noise. This again, is used to build suspense. As this happens, the boy transforms in the water and turns around, where his face is distorted into someone else. Suddenly the words ‘Once you see him…’ are shown, and then he zooms into a clip where he finds Baghul hiding in the bushes- with the same face the boy transformed into, showing how he was possessed.­

Knowing that the bushes in the photo are in his garden, he takes the photo over to the window and holds it up. The garden is mainly pitch black, apart from an area in the bushes which is lit up. As he takes the paper away, we see Baghul standing in his garden. The music jumps suddenly and it scares the audience.

“Baghul lives in the images themselves, and they are gateways into our world.” Thes words are echoed over and we see a photo of Baghul on the computer screen. As the man looks away, Baghul turns his head. Building up to this point, the clip if cut really quickly along with a drum beat, building suspense.

“Nothing Can Save you.” By using the word ‘you’ the trailer is talking directly to the audience making them feel as if they are involved with the story. “Children exposed to the images are particularly vulnerable”. At the same time we see a clip of the man’s daughter watching the movies…

In the next clip we see how his daughter painted a picture on the wall of the house, of the girl who previously lived there and went missing, Stephanie, the girl who was on the tyre swing at the beginning. The trailer begins to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and we slowly begin to understand what is going on. In the next clip we see the man walk down a hall, and then it cuts to a cardboard box, and then back him, then to the box etc, and then suddenly, out of the box, his son jumps out, screaming, as if he’s possessed, this shocks the audience.

The man then sets fire to the home videos, and we see a close up of the tape burning, suddenly there is a montage of different clips of the family running and packing up, as a voice over says to ‘Grab the kids, pack the car, they’re getting out of there.’

The trailer is then edited as if it is on one of the home projector tapes, and we hear the tape rolling and clicking. Between every click, a diferent clip is shown. And the clicks become faster and faster, building suspense and scaring the audience. Examples of the quick clips we see are them screaming, a child dragging an axe along the floor (The shot of the axe being dragged is at a tilted angle, adding to the madness at this point), the little girl laying in bed with a drawing of Baghul on the wall as she stares at some presence in the corner, but the clip cuts before we can see who it is. Another clip is someone walking down the hall way, the walls covered in blood,carrying a body. We don’t see whose face it is, and the only light source is coming from the far end of the hall, so everything is in shadows. This adds a sense of mystery, there is also a blue filter over the shot, making it seem more scary.

As the clips build up and become faster and faster, there is a drum beat getting faster and louder. Suddenly it stops, at a point where the man looks at lots of children, all with distorted faces like Baghul. The music is silent, building suspense. They all lift their fingers as if to say ‘Shhh.’ And then suddenly Baghul jumps out at the camera and there is a loud scream in the background. As the ending to the trailer, this will shock the audience, and leave them wanting to see more, as the build up of suspense and adrenaline is effective.