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.
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