The Snowman Trailer Analysis

·         Cut to black

·         '...is missing!' voice over

·         Metal on metal machinery noise mid shot of dark figure appeared to be leaning over someone triggering weapon as lifts arm up

·         Cut to black

·         Establishing shot fades in of top mountains and snow fish flopping mystic fog, shining snow

·         Cross cut between editing is used to show house is centre of ideal snowy setting between mountains

·         Gong sound still present

·         'He calls himself the snowman killer' voice over and main guy is shown after fade to black

·         Over the shoulder shot from snowman perspective to show fearful expression on main guy

·         Low angle shot creating POV from snowman

·         Shot reverse shot of snowman face looking at guy

·         Centred we see drawing of snowman and writing 'hello mister police' above drawing strange face on snowman

·         Immature stick figure drawing

·         On icy looking wall

·         Mid shot of main guy looking at camera as writing says from voiceover 'he's completely insane'

·         Cross cut to woman young vulnerable innocent introducing characters

·         Long shot of truck from earlier in dark urban area suggested from fence in background singing begins, creepy dramatic gospel woman's voice singing 'front door open' –vulnerability

·         Light projecting from car goes into windows of house/basement long shot of two women (mum and daughter inside) dancing dimly lit

·         Close up of hand holding lit cigarette, voiceover 'I'm thinking that he is going after to women that he disproves of' blurred background short depth of field

·         Fade to black

·         Connote main character/important guy

·         Main woman shown before mid-shot looks older stressed worried face tilted head blurred background showing her importance briefing someone

·         Man puts pout cigarette in some snow

·         Mid close up of another woman character reading relaxed and revealing clothing useless window in background to side of her, lamp lighting up minimal space, snow thrown at window and she jumps

·         Singing continues

·         Cut to black

·         In wooded area woman and man investigate. Only faces lit up pan over past woman

·         Fade into another oddly shaped space that has snow in it -cross cut

·         Abandoned sewage area barn?

·         Tunnel

·         Dark moody setting as man strands on higher ground in circular shape

·         Camera pans down to what characters is looking at, voiceover again, says 'the only thing we know for sure' into abyss

·         Cut to black 'shh' noise

·         Music has stopped voiceover' is that he is playing games with us.'

·         Fades into dark scene where nothing is visible

·         Headlights light up snowman with woman's human head for a head, flash of light then black screen again centre screen and crashing metallic sound from silence after voiceover

·         Inter-text reads 'this October' in a white font fading into red to connote blood in snow glowing

·         Pan of city buildings each side of frame, lights on and trees in the middle connoting Christmas trees but conflicting messages of joy by being creepy

·         Mid shot of woman investigator in snow wrapped up in coat and scarf idyllic background again due to Christmassy blurry lights and church

·         Christmas iconography

·         Shows what she's looking at shot reverse shot editing to snowman by road

·         As we have already seen a human head on a snowman we think that the fact this snowman's facial features are in the middle there's a human head in there

·       Man walks past shop windows wearing a full hazmat suit and gasmask

·         Voiceover 'we need a way to lure him out'

·         Main investigator woman in red room connoting danger and blood

·         Pushes plant pot out the way revealing camera, starts recording herself

·        Wearing fancy, expensive looking clothes, revealing, undresses to entice killer mid shot

·        Birds in the snow look as if on dead body cross cut, guy investigator looking voiceover 'be careful we don't know what we are dealing with' drained mid battle bruised stressed confused

·         Jump cut to guy holding gun in the air at top of mountain edge misty

·         Fires the gun, jump cut to snowman on mountain edge background gloomy

·         Cross cut to truck on road going through tunnel framing the mountains following shot

·         Figure on right walking towards figure crawling on ice with lots of mist- confusing- foreshadowed by fish

·         Mid shot of investigator searching in wooden homely space

·         Mid shot of man through window trying to open door with snowy white background

·         Voiceover 'he's been watching us the whole time' mid close up of two men from before over the shoulder used to show investigators expression

·         Pan close up of a snowman through window wearing gloves investigator holding gun up at it white colours connote innocence- massive contrast purposely done to confuse audience

·         Really quick cut to show snowman imprint on car rooftop singing is back to build pace- contrast slow calm voice to quick cuts

·         Killer signature mark

·         Voiceover 'building snowmen cutting things up into little pieces' close up of sketches from killer? Showing body parts detached

·         Fade to black

·         Voiceover 'he's taunting us' girl investigator blurry as window to the left behind of her is in focus with face in it. She turns and face disappears

·         Shot under a second long shows man tied down laying on a floral sofa

·         Mid close up of man looking up concerned then jump cut to TV screens showing CCTV footage, suggesting he's searching for information about murders

·         Voiceover 'if we don't find him, this is never going to stop'

·         Extreme close up of handwriting on envelope

·         Aims with gun, points it at mountains jump cut to him on mountain going over it then extreme close up of his face. After is mid shot of him shouting 'come on' as if he's is very frustrated

·         Struggling with hunt to find killer is stressful

·         Ideal backdrop of mountains contrast

·         Quick montage showing fancy building, event inside, close up of woman investigator dressed up with other people

·         Music is intense

·         Black gloved hands inspecting a needle of some kind

·         Woman investigator says 'another missing woman' as she puts on her shoes

·         A woman walks out of the shower onto black floor reflecting wooden interior that has snow on it as if they are footprints

·         Voiceover 'there's something we're not seeing'

·         Fast paced montage of man from event taking flash photo of investigator

·         Looks like coloured projector of red and white lights facing straight onto the camera connoting blood, danger, snow, killer. Intense music

·         'What matters most is that we celebrate how this brought us together' -another make voiceover

·       Long shot of man performing on stage in front of lots of houses

·         Dark shadow looks at the person in hazmat suit

·         Mid shot of fancy guy making a toast (him saying voiceover part)

·         Long shot of someone looking injured running away in snow, gets trapped by bear trap, its blonde woman from earlier, close up of her panic face of terror as she falls to the snow high pitched scream edited to go through you- like machinery

·         Bird's eye view of red car spinning out of control

·         Dark figure facing fire outdoors in snow

·         Two dark figures in dark room looks like man just threw girl on floor

·         Voiceover 'anyone can see that he is trying to hide something' man lying on floor looks dead and a girl? Sits on him stroking his head

·         People at party raising their glasses

·         Over the shoulder shot of main girl talking

·         Investigator man opens garage door looks in pain

·         Little girl looks in horror screaming no

·         Dead woman (mum) strapped inside red car, water slowly rising up her body

·         'You can't force the pieces to fit' -main guy close up of his face framed to the left of screen directing speech to camera

·         Mid shot of someone wearing pig like animal mask, peering round corner in someone's room

·         Investigator girl on her bed looking vulnerable looks scared low angle on her face

·         Voiceover 'we could have saved them'

·         She says 'no' jump cut to main guy with gun in snow

·         Jump cut back to girl looking distressed and shaking back and forth bent over, maybe being raped?

·         Clip not lasting a second

·         Voiceover 'I gave you all the clues'

·         Investigator looking angry and sweating and bruised

·         Shot of writing on ice 'I'm doing this for you mister policeman' -childish writing

·         Fire burning down shed blowing up in smokes, cut to main man screaming intense fire lighting scene

·         Cut to black

·         Fade in ideal looking house

·         End of montage

·         Investigator woman presses button to towards camera to open garage door long shot of door opening

·         Inside we see someone is waiting for her

·         Close up of step ladder/stool with blood dripping on the floor

·         Cut back to woman's face as she gasps

·         Very intense music stops, cut to zoom in on garage door sliding up and snowman killer stood there with ice on his head iconography of killer

·         She turns and runs away

·         Close up of centre framing showing man's body with snow man's head with eye holes

·         Zoom in closer to icy head

·         Loud violin

·         Cut black and blue writing says the snowman in icy font

·         Footprint sounds and says 'October' official website and Production Company

The Girl on the Train Trailer Analysis

This trailer includes;

Inter text are used throughout the trailer. They are  written in black type writing font on an off white background. The inter texts are sentences that fill in areas of narrative for the audience without revealing the entire plot.

Production and film company logos are shown at the beginning of the trailer to attract an audience. As the company's have had successful films previously this will entice the audience into watching the film as they will expect the film to be as successful.

Non continuity editing creates confusion and intrigue for an audience, making them want to go see the film. This is a typical convention for the thriller genre as it gives an incite to the films synopsis but doesn't give too much information away.

The main settings within the trailer are a train and a housing estate. These settings are common to audiences every day lives so they can make the trailer relatable. The use of a train for location emphasises the feeling of isolation and separation from the real world which is also common as a thriller convention. Also, creates atmosphere of lack of safety.

Close ups of the main character show her emotions and reactions to events in the trailer. This camera technique is used to create empathy from the audience to the character. Links to stereotypical convention of using a vulnerable female as a leading character in a psychological thriller.

A montage is used towards the end of the trailer to build pace and tension. It is made up of lots of short and fast clips from different parts of the film, which is a very common convention used mainly in dramatic films. Intense music is often played over the top of the montage and then suddenly stops to allow a rememberable final scene. For example, "...I'm afraid of myself..."

Some of the trailer is set at night which plays on the common fear of the dark among audiences.

Music cut outs for important moments creating an uncomfortable silence for the audience to reflect in. The song 'heartless' links to what we are shown and the lyrics relate to the clips. For example, the song goes 'how could you be so heartless?' and the male character pulls the females hair violently backwards.

There is some nudity within the trailer which is sexually suggestive of the female characters. A naked body towards the end is covered in bruises and cuts, connoting violence and abuse. Stereotypically woman are sexualised in psychological thriller films as this makes their characters appear more vulnerable and weak.

Voiceover is the main characters giving vague explanation of events which intrigues the viewer into wanting to understand the full content.

The type of audience that would consume this text would be an active audience. This is because they will have to think about what is going on and follow the synopsis step by step. A passive audience may struggle with the psychological thriller genre as they will be looking for a film that is easy to watch and understand.

The trailer does not follow Todorov's theory of narrative as it holds a disequilibrium atmosphere throughout.

Research on Existing Psychological Thriller Trailers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byXgz1gOjAw

I used this YouTube clip to discover the top 10 best psychological thrillers as this gives me an insight to what basic conventions this specific genre includes. Also, it allows me to take inspiration from the films featured to use in my own trailer.

To widen my range of research on psychological thrillers I searched the top 5 on IMDb...

• Se7en (David Fincher, 1995) is listed as the most impactful and well made psychological thriller due to having such an intriguing narrative and an all star cast of Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey. 
• The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) is listed second best because it is a "genuinely scary yet nuanced film" -Johnny Smac review.
• Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000) listed as third greatest as the director had little help.
• The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) is the fourth best due to directors outcome.
• Oldboy (Chan-woo Park, 2003) listed fifth as it is more than just a revenge thriller.

Psychological Thriller Genre Conventions -Zoe Firth

This photos displays the genre conventions that initially came to mind for a psychological thriller. In addition to these conventions psychological thrillers are known to be heavily focussed on characters. A psychological thriller is a suspense story which emphasises the unstable psychological states of its characters. Often they incorporate elements from the mystery and drama genres along with the typical traits of the thriller genre.

Thriller Conventions and What Makes Us Scared

I created this on Wordle to show key thriller conventions and what makes us scared. Presenting the words this way is different to other generic layouts which makes it more interesting to read.

Analysis of Leave to Remain Trailer

Analysing Trailers: Leave to Remain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WemxnwbRjl8 -This is the link to the trailer. 

How many shots in total?

-There are 60 different camera shots within this trailer.

How long is it?

-This trailer is 1minute and 49 seconds long in total.

How many characters and narratives?

- 12 different characters are shown in this trailer, 3 seem to be main characters. There are 3 main narratives that appear to change slowly.    

How many settings?

-There are 8 obvious settings in total within this trailer.              
Where are they?

-The settings included are; the city, one of the main characters flat, security office, school (classroom), courtroom, a custody suite, mountainous area, and a river (canal boat). 

How many music tracks/sound effects?

-In the beginning there is a music track that sounds hopeful and calming. After 0:24 seconds in the trailer there is a dramatic track that is piano based which creates sympathy for characters.

How many inter titles?

-7 inter titles are included to ensure that the audience stay engaged to the trailer.

What information is on them?

-Firstly there is a question, "How far would you go to escape your past?". This engages the audience and makes them feel included. At 0:53 seconds it reads, "There lives depend on the story they tell".

-Bafta award for the film is included.

-Credits to ALT J for soundtrack.
-Reviews from magazines

Who is the target audience? What is your evidence?

-The target audience is difficult to know for this film, however, I would suggest that people of the age of 12 could watch this to learn about cultures and the problems that ethnically diverse people face. I believe this is aimed at people of a similar age to the characters because it will expand their knowledge of what different people face in the teenage years of their lives.  

Which camera shots are most used? Why?

-A lot of close ups are used so the audience can identify how the characters feel in different situations.

Which editing techniques are used? Why?

-Jump cuts are important when showing parts of the synopsis clearly. Also, framing is key to what the audience see e.g. emotions, physical harm.

Is the editing chronological?

-No, because this would give too much of the film away to the audience. Only key scenes are shown but not really dramatic ones. 

What else have you noticed?

-Translation of certain words into English subtitles- "You took everything away" to which the other boy replies "There was no choice for me. At 1:01 "If you say anything, I will kill you" is subtitled, connoting that there is violence within the film. 

All of these screen grabs show the key areas of the trailer I have focussed on in detail. For example, some photos show main characters who feature within the trailer. Also, some display the various locations used within the film. Other screen grabs show various reviews of the film, or inter titles embedded between the quick pace glimpses of the narrative. The title of the film "Leave To Remain" comes up at the very end of the trailer in it's own iconography. This is so the audience stay intrigued to the trailer and have to watch it all before knowing the title.