Media Trailer Analysis

In an earlier post I briefly analysed the trailer for the film Rings (2017) but I only talked about the conventions and how these conform to things that media theorists have stated in the past. I'm now going to analyse another horror action film trailer and do an in depth analysis on its contents.

The trailer that I'm going to be analysing is the trailer for the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th. So that my group can see slasher film trailers are created and what can we use for inspiration when we make our film trailer.

Genre

Sack Jason
as seen in the reboot

The film like its predecessors is part of the slasher genre and because of this we see many genre conventions. Firstly the killers identity remains hidden throughout the film. This can be seen clearly within the trailer as Jason Voorhees (The antagonist of the series) wears his signature hockey mask to hide his identity, he also is seen wearing a sack over his head which is a reference to what he originally wore in Friday the 13th Part II (1981). Another convention that fits with this trailer is that the killer is the way they is because of a past traumatic experience. This clearly conforms with Jason's character as his main goal is revenge on the camp counsellors at Camp Crystal lake as they let him drowned in the lake when they were meant to be protecting him and also because one of them killed Pamela Voorhees, Jason's mother, in the first film released in 1980. Furthermore, the film also shows many conventions of horror films in general. This can be seen throughout the trailer as the eerie music is used to create suspense and tension which slowly builds up getting faster and louder as the trailer progresses then suddenly the music stops for a couple seconds and suddenly Jason appears behind his victim and kills her scaring the audience. The instruments used to create this effect are usually string instruments such as the violin as they can be used to create sharp, high pitched sounding noises, which is the same reason they are used to create music stings, to scare the audience as the loud noises occur very suddenly.

Also, the slasher genre as a whole conforms with theorist John Fiske's theory on how genre is convenient for the audience and producers. This can be seen as audiences who go to see Slasher films know what to expect as its a very conventional sub genre as it will always a have a killer who appears to be invulnerable as they never stay dead, the group of protagonists will be killed in very brutal ways with one of them usually being punished for promiscuity. However, while these sound like negatives as it makes them sound repetitive the audience of the Slasher genre enjoy seeing these as they are what makes the genre unique to the rest of the horror genre and audiences know what they are getting into before seeing allowing them to enjoy the film more. The Slasher genre is also convenient for producers as it means that as the audience enjoy seeing the films the producers will make a larger profit and intern release more films of the same genre to capitalise on the success. This can be seen with the Friday the 13th film series as in a span of 10 years Paramount pictures released 9 Friday the 13th films even though the 3rd film having the tag line 'The Final Chapter' only for the 4th film to have the tag line 'A New Beginning' despite it still being a sequel to the 3rd film and not a reboot of the franchise. Also it should be stated that John Fiske created this theory in 1987 and during this decade the Slasher genre was its peak in success.

Camerawork

The camerawork in the trailer is very conventional to the horror genre as it is used to further convey the tension in the scenes. For example, During the scene where the woman is in the water an over shoulder is used of her looking at the land where we see Jason Voorhees watching her. This is done to make it look like that we are there with her. This unsettles the audience as it makes us feel like Jason is staring directly into our eyes planning to kill us. In addition, Handheld Shaky camera is used in this scene to simulate the effect of being in the water as it is bobbing up and down. However, this could also be used to make the audience feel trapped as like the girl we are in the water separated from the land by a relentless killer conveying how helpless we are.

Low angle shot of Jason

Also, in another scene a slight low angle shot is used to make Jason look strong and superior than us as if he was looking down on us. This was done to show the audience how much of a threat Jason is being the more powerful than of the other characters in the scene. This makes the audience feel weak and inferior just like the characters in the scene who have no chance of physically outmatching on Jason. Because of this the audience will also become more scarred of Jason seeing as being invulnerable.

Jason stands over his next victim

A two shot is also used later on in the trailer to further convey how strong Jason is. This is shown in the shower scene where one of his victims looks behind the shower curtains to see if she is safe but when she fully opens the curtains we see Jason towering over her while the girl gives a sigh of relief thinking she is safe only for it to cut away just before Jason grabs her. This is done to terrify audiences as they know what is going to happen next, we also feel sympathy towards the girl because she believes that she is safe however we know that's not true and we are powerless to do anything further making the audience feel inferior to Jason.

Jason's shadow covers the woman

Almost immediately after this we see a slight high angle shot on a woman with Jason's shadow standing over her and we can tell that it's his shadow as we see a sharp object resembling a machete (Jason's signature weapon) in the figures hands. A high angle shot is used to make the woman look weak and powerless as she is in a lower state than Jason so he is looking down on her which heavily implies that she is going to be killed. Furthermore, by looking at the girls facial expressions we see that she is petrified of Jason fearing that he will kill her. We also see that she looking directly at Jason and by extension the audience as if she is begging for help. This makes the audience feel sympathetic for her as we are useless as nothing we can do could save her.

Extreme Close-up

Another use of camerawork that I can see is the use of an extreme close-up. This can be seen late in the trailer when one of the teenagers shines a torch on a child's bed with the name Jason engraved on it the camera closes in on his name to emphasise that this bed belongs to Jason Voorhees the antagonist of the film. This will immediately be recognised by fans if the series who will recognise its importance as it shares as small amount of insight on Jason's back story (grew up at the camp sight). Furthermore, if some of the audience don't realise the the connection they will acknowledge that this bed is important in some way which will make them speculate the mystery surrounding this bed as it wouldn't be placed into the focused on in the trailer if it had no importancy. 

Editing

Jason cuts the power to the house

Shot Reverse Shot

By looking at the trailer I can clearly see that fast paced editing has been used to make the trailer look more intense and action packed as everything is going by so quickly that you could miss something if you weren't paying attention this make the audience become more interested in the trailer as they want to try to see all of the small details that go by in a flash. Another thing that I noticed about the editing within the trailer is that many jump and straight cuts are used in quick succession of each other throughout the trailer especially in the latter part of the trailer when Jason is hunting his victims down. This can be seen when the power is cut in the house as many straight cuts are used going to different parts of the house showing everyone's reaction. This was done so that we could see the facial expressions of all the people in the home which range from slight confusion (the woman wearing the white shirt) to completely terrified (the next woman to appear after the white shirt one). This intern makes the audience panic as well as that just by shutting the power off Jason managed to scare many people conveying how powerful he his. Another piece of editing that shows the people are scared appears near the start of the trailer when the girl is swimming in the water a shot reverse shot is used of her seeing Jason cutting back to her reaction and back to Jason staring directly at her. When we see her face we can also see her facial expressions and unlike when Jason cut the power we can clearly see that she is petrified as she opens her mouth to scream and starts shaking in the water as if she was trying to swim away but was paralysed by fear. This makes the audience become terrified as well as we are given no choice but to wait for Jason to kill her. During this Shot reverse shot we see a long shot on Jason as he appears from behind a tree and stares at the girl in the lake we also see this as an over the shoulder shot from the girls perspective which makes Jason appear as a mysterious figure as we can't make him out straight away only when he is standing still we can finally see Jason this is very conventional of the horror genre having the antagonist at first appear as a mysterious figure so that he remains unknown to both the audience and the characters in the trailer so that when he is first revealed it's a surprise to all of us.

Mise-en-scene

The forest at night

Mise-en-scene is used in a variety of ways in the trailer. Firstly the setting of the trailer is Camp Crystal Lake which is located in a heavily forested area. This is conventional of the horror genre as they are usually set in isolated areas where the protagonists will be unable to get any help trying to escape. Furthermore, I believe that a forest was also used to make the protagonists feel weaker as during night time which can be seen in the trailer the trees look like tall, dark, shadowy figures and they are everywhere as if they are watching every move the protagonists make. In addition the costumes in the trailer show us that Jason is above everyone in terms of power. This can be seen when he kills one of his victims who just so happens to be a police officer which can be seen because of he is wearing his uniform. This shows Jason as being very powerful because he catches the officer of guard and kills him with a single strike which could imply that Jason is above the law and more importantly above justice itself. This may also be a reference to stereotypical police in horror films as they are usually immediately killed not long after they first appear as they don't believe that the threat is as dangerous as the protagonists say they are leading them to not arming themselves which ultimately leads to their death. 

Sound

The sound within the trailer is used to create fear and tension especially during clips with Jason in them so that the audience because increasingly nervous throughout the trailer as they are cautious of when Jason will appear again. Sound conveys this through the use of dialogue as whenever Jason is near we hear an ominous voice that says "ki ki ki ma ma ma" While this may just sound like demonic chanting which is common in many horror films it's actually Jason saying "kill kill kill mama mama mama" which can be interpreted as "Kill for mother" which is a common phrase in the Friday the 13th films as it explains why Jason is a killer. This dialogue is also commonly used in combination with an ambient silence which is done to further build up suspense so that the audience braces themselves as they are going to be scared.  Also, later in the trailer we another sound effect that is used to create suspense is the sound of a heart beating. This was done because when a person goes into a state of panic their  heart will start beating quicker which causes it to make a loud beating sound. This was used in the trailer for that reason as it make the audience think that their listening to their own heart which makes them start panicking.

Audience effects

As I have previously stated the main effect that the trailer has on the audience is to terrify them which it does by using an eerie soundtrack which creates an ominous atmosphere which makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they brace themselves as it could lead to a sting and by extension a jump scare. The trailer also tries to make Jason Voorhees appear as threatening as possible by using a variety of camera shots to make him look like an omnipotent force showing the protagonists fear and terror just from looking at him from a distant and creating a montage of him mercilessly slaughtering everyone that he can find.

Effects on tension/suspense

The trailer perfectly create tension and suspense throughout in a variety of ways so that the audience remains interested. This can be seen by using a human heart beating to make audiences panic, have Jason's signature chant occur whenever he is nearby his next victim. Also many of the shots take place during the night which limits both the protagonists and the audiences field of view making us fear what is going to happen next.

Inspirations

After analysing the trailer I have selected several conventions that I believe could be used for my groups film trailer. One of these conventions is having the antagonist first appear as a mysterious figure which can be developed to create a fear of the unknown effect as no one will be truly aware of who is killing them until it is all to late. Furthermore if my group is having hard times deciding on what the antagonist will look like we can use the mysterious figure to buy sometime why will come of up with their design. Another convention that I will be taking from the trailer is the shot reverse shot showing the characters reaction as it will be great for the antagonists full reveal as it will show the audience how terrified the protagonists are intern scaring the audience.