Textaul Analysis 2

'The Woman In Black' follows a lawyer named Arthur Kipps, played by Daniel Radcliffe, who visits a remote village after his wife's death. He soon realises that the villagers aren't telling him something, as they fear the house that his late client stays in. This house is found to be haunted by a woman, who uses her wrath and need to kill to find what she once lost. This exciting horror was directed by James Watkins and released in the USA on the 3rd February 2012. 'The Woman In Black' is a physiological horror, meaning you never really get to see the antagonist - it's all in the mind. I have decided to look at 'The Woman In Black' as part of my research to creating my own horror/thriller promotional trailer. I hope that by the end of this research I will have a much clearer understanding of what key conventions of a horror film trailer are, what mise-en-scene is effective, and what exactly made this film/ trailer so successful.

One of the first things the audience see, is what looks like a nursery. This is done to set the scene and the overall atmosphere of the film they are trying to promote. One of the first things I noticed was the lighting. Low key lighting is used in order to make a room that is usually seen as innocent and pure, into something dark and cruel. Nurseries are usually visioned as a place for children to play and grow, and the fact that the producers have put an eerie spin on it makes what they are truing to portray, very effective, The use of lighting is an important part of mise-en-scene as it means the audience can use their imagination even further, making what reality thinks to be impossible, into something very possible.  As well as the ghostly low key lighting, back lighting is used as you see it come out of the window in the background. This is used as it means the lighting can project gently onto the rest of the room. Being that their is very little light, it helps to support the low-key atmosphere, creating shadows and shaded furniture. The light shining from outside of the setting of the house also connotes the idea that in the outside world everything is happy and lively. However, the house itself has haunting imprisonment of the woman in black. A candle also gives off little light to give a glow to the room. Candles are usually used, from the idea of medieval times, as it creates the idea of history and vulnerability to the flame.

Another shot, being a close up of a doll, allows the audience to see more detail into the contents of the scene. Porcelain dolls are often used in horror films as they are seen as unusual and scary, as the thought of what these dolls do in the night crosses everyones mind. An innocent doll is given a frightening twist. Examples of films that use this would be 'The Conjuring,' 'Blood Dolls' and 'Dead of Night.' They all use a prop like this to represent the idea of the non-living becoming some-what dangerous to them. 

The messy hair of the doll connotes the idea of disturbance, as most dolls have neat and well brushed hair as they are meant to be played with and cared for by their buyers. The audience see that this doll isn't looked after, and actually looks quite old. The mud and dirt on the doll's face connotes ageing and abandonment. It supports the imagery of this innocent doll being feared rather than loved. Usually a doll in a horror film suggests the idea of an innocent object being possessed by supernatural and inhuman beings, which is all part of scaring the audience.

We see an extreme long shot of a horse and carriage moving from one side of the frame to the other. The set is really important, as it means the audience are able to use their imagination to it's limits. The setting tells the audience context and background to what is happening. In the foreground of the frame their is a large wooden cross stuck in the ground. A lot of films use a cross as it's said to anger demons and bad spirits. Being that the narrative is about a small town haunted by a woman in black, the cross suggests the idea that the towns people are fending off any unwanted visitors - however later on we see that their attempt to do this doesn't quite work how they wanted it to. The background is extremely empty due to the connotation of loneliness and abandonment and mist is used to suggest the idea of the unknown. Due to this part of the trailer, the audience see that this is not set in modern day because of the way in which characters are seen travelling. We get the idea that it is set in the late 18th or 19th century because of how they travel - both giving us a sense of time and place. Another shot shows a huge house. It's anodyne and not looked after which connotes the idea that nobody ever goes to this building, which the audience soon find out, is because of it being haunted. It's stereotypical for horror films to use huge manors like this due to it's rustic and old look to it. Haunted houses are usually due to someone dying a long time ago and wanting revenge for something - this house gives the perfect insight to where the woman in black walks.

We also see our protagonist, Arthur Kipps, in sight of a message on a wall. The message is written in red which is connoted to be blood due to it's dripping messy font. Blood being a conventional element in horror films, this works really well to disturb the audience. On the wall it says 'you could have saved him.' Here, we get the idea that our protagonist is the victim as a result of doing something horrible in his past. The audience get the idea that this is from our antagonist, as it is almost seen as a threat to our main character. The last shot of the trailer shows the antagonist themselves. It shows them very slightly and doesn't reveal too much to the audience, meaning none of the mystery is lost.

The producers don't make this too obvious because they want to scare the audience quickly right at the end of the trailer. This means that this is one of the things they remember about the film because it's at the end, and the audience are able to see what they are going to be in for if they watch the film. The idea of the protagonist having no idea that what the town fears the most is right behind him, sends a chill up the audience's spines. This monster is white faced with big dark eyes which makes them hidden and ghostly.
Now to talk about sound used, and why it was used. Below is the trailer for you to watch before I begin.




TRAILER




At the beginning of the trailer we hear diegetic sound of the wind. This sets the scene to be eerie and bone chilling. The sound of wind is usually used in horror films as it sets the atmosphere to be empty and tension building. The audience then hear the sound of music being played as it focuses on toys and dolls in the room. The sounds used are high pitch and sound like a music box, however it's slowed down to make an innocent tune into something scary and unusual. As the audience watch whats happening, the music gradually gets louder to build suspense. The audience then hear a girl's voice. Being a young girl, it makes the purity of a child stop as she talks about something extremely dark and frightening. She says:

'During afternoon tea, theres a shift in the air. A bone trembling chill, that tells you she's there. There are those who believe the town is cursed, but the house in the marsh is by first the worst. What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back. The spectre of darkness - the woman in black.'

This rhyming prologue works really well to give an insight of what is to happen and what the woman in black is all about. As she says this we see visually what is happening on  screen.

Produced by Faith Starie

Textual Anaylsis 1

I have decided that I am going to analyse the conjuring 2 trailer, as it is a rather new film that has been released, so the trailer is going to have some techniques that the audience may feel interested for.
Conjuring 2 carries on from the first conjuring, both films include families that are haunted by ghosts and both have hunters or paranormal investigators (Lorraine, and Ed Warren) to try and protect the families from bad things from happening. The conjuring 2 is about a single mother raising four children in a house with an evil spirit, this is set in 1977. During this trailer I feel that it is very clear that the genre of this  film is horror, due to it following the conventions of the genre. I feel that this also gives us good ideas about what we could include in our trailer.
Having the backing of one of the big 6 makes this film having more of the chance of having more money to market there film, therefor leading for better circulation of the trailer (affording to put it on YouTube home advertising(costs around a million pounds per day)) and posters, and magazine interviews. This also means that the trailers are more likely to have better quality.

Within the trailer there is fast editing, specifically when you can see the paranormal activity happen. This fast editing is joined with screams, which turns the fast editing into something rather scary. Fast editing is usually common with supernatural horror, therefore this also shows that the film is going to be horror. The black shots in between the camera shots also shows that the film is horror, as it builds suspense and that it splits the sections in the trailer which also shows that the trailer is not everything that is the film. This again gives the film a good build, possibly meaning that there is going to be more audience in the cinemas. There is a zoom in just before the really fast editing of the supernatural action, on this shot there is a drag up of the directors name, I feel that this good as it is not disrupting the trailer its self, its not changing the way it is set. I think it also increases the build up, as you are focusing on the spinning wheel, but the name is also coming into view. This may also persuade the audience to look at other films that have been directed by 'James Wan'. There is not much writing on the screen during this trailer so the things that are on the screen are more memorable for the audience to remember, therefore increasing the publicity of the director, and actors. After the really fast editing the shots changes slow down a bit, giving an idea that the action has slowed down a bit, but then is a shock to the audience when the editing begins to speed up a bit. this shows that the film isn't all fast paced but there is a lot that is. The building up of the speed of editing shows that although the  film may slow down at certain points the excitement of the film does not stop. During this editing technique they used like a old film wheel was used a lot to change the setting or time of the plot, this then identifies that the film is not set in just one day, it is set over a period of time.

During the trailer there is some non-diegetic music, string music to be exact, the music starts pretty low and then gets higher. This diegetic music is used a lot during horror films, so therefore is iconic, which means that the audience knows that it is a horror genre, as they have probably heard similar music throughout multiple horror films, and trailers. During the first part of the trailer we hear the young girl speaking, the dialogue is in a low whispered tone, again this is usually in horror trailer. The dialogue however is very informative on what the film is about, however it does not give the whole plot away to the audience. This gives the audience a sense of suspense, specifically to what is going to happen as in the trailer we hear the young victim tell her mother that the 'spirit is wanting to hurt her'. Behind the dialogue we hear other diegetic sounds, such as the wind, the squeaky swing set, and the wind getting worse. These sounds also connote the sense of horror, as we know that these sounds exist, but these are identified more in the horror genre rather than any other genre. This therefore in forces the style of film the conjuring 2 is. After this section in the trailer is when the string non-diegetic music begins. Also during this when the fast editing starts the non-diegetic music speeds up and becomes a lot deeper, therefore connoting the sense of panic and terror, as deep, loud music normally symbolises this.

The lighting in this trailer is dark, with very little light, therefore only really using background and the light from the objects being used in the shots. This lack of key lighting is typically used in horror films, giving the audience a sense of dread and distress, specifically because many people are told to be careful of the dark. with the low key lighting the film then re-enforces this to the audience, as they believe that most bad things happen at night. With this being a psychological/supernatural horror they may have wanted to scare, especially that they still feel slightly scared after the trailer, and if they go to see the film. With it having sections of supernatural involved it usually seen that paranormal activity happens after dark, therefor going along with the convention of typical paranormal horrors.

There are multiple shots that are used throughout the trailer. There are some medium close up shots, specifically when there is a conversation between two characters, this shows that they are trying to be serious and that they are both relatively important in the conversation. Towards the end of the trailer, we see more close ups of the victim,especially when the paranormal activity began to show in the trailer, this was to show the victims facial expressions, to identify the scary parts of the film. These close ups of the victim also help the audience identifies that she is the victim of the paranormal activity. There are also panning shots that follow the house, showing multiple rooms of the house, as we can see that there are only few of the rooms shown, it helps the audience identify that these are the rooms that are probably most significant to the film. But at the beginning of the trailer we see the shots following into the backyard where we see the possible main characters of the film. We can tell that these are the main characters in this film due them being the first ones we see on the screen.

The setting of the conjuring 2 follows the convention of the typical horror film, It follows the convention of other horror films as they are set in an abandoned house, thid may make the target audience feel more scared than other horror  films that are set in other places (e.g in the woods), as it is set in a house and the circumstances of the family may be real, it gives the audience a sense of fright that it could happen to them, especially if they believe that paranormal creatures exist. The colours of the set aren't very bright, again going with the convention of typical psycho-horror, the darker duller colours usually connote the sense of evil, and death, with connation of death it foresees that there is going to be paranormal activity, especially as you can tell that the house would have been abandoned for a while before the new family have moved in. We are also able to tell this by the diegetic sound of the wind and swing squeaking, this emphasises that the house was not lived in for a while before the family in the film had moved in. Horror films also have the conventions that the protagonist wears normal, casual, civilian clothes, which therefore also helps the audience feel more toward the victim of the film, and it also makes the audience feel as though they are part of the film as they would also be wearing casual clothing. However this is set in a different time period which may also separate the audience from those in the film, also closing down on the scariness of the film, however this may not always be true. During the trailer crosses are seen which is also part of supernatural horror, or psych-horror, this is so that the audience believe that the antagonist is against god, and good, This may help with Christians that are watching films as they may not want to believe that god would allow anything bad to be under his control.

Ideas

Today we talked more about the genre of the trailer we wanted to do. We still wanted to do horror, but we have more of the idea of the sub genre of the trailer we want. Psychological Horror is the sub genre that we are leaning towards.
- We came up with the idea of using a young girl (most likely Karlton's sister) to star in the film, as films that have this
are usually a lot more scarier than those that aren't. We also thought that if this was to happen they would have to be sweet and innocent, they would also have to be dressed in their night clothes, as we have researched psychological horror and that is the typical way the children are dressed. as well as this, paranormal activity is usually done at night, which gives more of a sense of dread to the audience. As we have decided to do a psychological horror, we are aiming to scare the audience, and set something that the audience would enjoy.
An idea is that we may have the child in bed and she suddenly sits up in bed, and then stares at a wardrobe, or cupboard (anything that can hold something medium sized). The wardrobe keeps moving. A blackout then happens and a scream. This would give the audience a fright, but the antagonist would not be revealed, therefore strengthening the sense of suspicion that the audience  may have already had.
This could either be done at the beginning or at the end of the trailer. I feel that it would be better at the end, as it would give the audience more suspense, giving the audience something they want to find out what made the young girl scream.

Initial Ideas

We got together to conclude our initial ideas, although we Know that our ideas may change over time.

Response to Brief

Welcome

Welcome
welcome to my A2 blog, for this years coursework I am working with Faith Starie and Karlton Armstrong to make a promotional film trailer, film magazine front cover and poster. We decided that we were going to be a group as we thought that our AS film production was successful. and I think that we complimented each other quite well. I hope our A2 production and ancillary tasks go just as well or even better.
We have picked to do the film promotion pack as we thought that we can test our skills, as the moving picture is going to test our skills. I feel that we are going to push our skills to pull this off.  I believe this is because we have not done print before.