Trailer/Trailer Analysis

The title for my media trailer is called Don't Look Back. In this essay, I will give a full analysis of the trailer including explainations for the design choices me and my group made.




The trailer opens with two title cards,one saying "panashe sibanda production"  and the other saying "a single choice leads to a terrible mistake". This already tells the viewers that from a story standpoint, someone or some people made a decision that acts as the driving force for this plot. We don't know what the choice or mistake is which leaves viewers curious and interested. This frame then fades into a wide shot with Esther treading through a forest carefully. This frame gives us a look at what we can assume to be our protagonist as well as set the location of the scene. It transitions into a ripple effect and we are taken to a completely different shot of two characters a boy and a girl walking laughing and smiling at each other. This was taken in a close up shot to get a full view of their faces. This was there to allow the audience to get a glimpse of of two characters that will become relevant later and also to infer to the audience that the protagonist esther is thinking about them, most likely searching for them. This brighter toned scene is then transitioned via fade to a shot of the girl running down a forest, running from something or someone until she collapses onto the ground. The use of shaky cam is meant to convey this sense of distress the character is in, her emotions in turmoil as she is tracked down by the antagonist. When she falls, the camera is set at a high angle shot which suggests dominance and also makes her look inferior to the danger. After another frame of her walking deeper into the forest is another shot of them sitting down enjoying each others company, this then fades away to a shot of the boy running until he eventually hits a dead end and is presumably caught by the antagonist. Shaky cam is once again used to convey the sense of distress that characters are in. We are then fianlly taken to a longer shot of Esther walking deeper into the forest, but this time she is frozen in her tracks. The camera pans around her body until it rises slowly to increase tension into a close up shot of her face, revealing a grotesque scar on her face, the fresh blood on her shirt revealing that it was recent. As she breathes more heavily, two arms infiltrate the the shot grabbing her mouth and her head until it cuts to the title "Don't Look Back". After fading to black, we are taken to a pan of her body laying on the floor. You could percieve this as being the male gaze as it slowly pans from her legs to an extreme close up of her face, showing her full body lying on the ground, as she opens her eyes as the trailer ends. This almost sexualized positioning suggests a power imbalance, it presents to the audience that she has been violated in some form and makes her look weaker aand inferior, her opening her eyes however, does show strength as despite whatever the antagonist did to her, she is still alive and ready. 

I believe that character design is important, especially in horror. There is no dialouge in the trailer, so visual storytelling is how we went about the trailer. Our characters needed to be identifiable and viewers must be able to get some information of the characters purely by their appearance and actions. For example, the character esther plays, the girl walking through the forest, she is wearing a long sleeved white shirt and leggings, showing barely any skin and also suggesting purity. She is very short and slim as opposed to the white girl who is very curvy. The black boy and white girl are seen running away from the danger but esther's character slowly but surely walks towards it, carefully appproaching it which shows a sense of bravery and diligence in comparison to the other two's cowardice. The antagonist of the trailer is barely shown, but from the reactions of our characters, we can infer that this person is dangerous. We only get a glimpse of the enemies arms and we can see him wearing gloves and an all black jacket, dark colours. This shows that the character doesn't want to be seen and wants to remain hidden but the fact that two of the characters are running also suggests that if need be, he will chase down his prey. It is these visual signifiers and distribution of information that tells the audience what they need to know about the characters and the story, without the use of dialouge. The colour palette of the trailer was to convey an eerry, dark and hopeless tone. The use of a dark blue aesthetic connotes this sense of unease very well.

One main error I noticed in my horror trailer was that it wasn't really a trailer but more of a scene. I incorporated some elements of a horror trailer such as the inception horn and a jumpscare, but I did include things such as a montage at the end, nor did I make effective use of the first twenty seconds of the trailer. I also included flashbacks and story elements which may be good in a scene but is useless in a horro trailer as the point of it is to caotivate the audience through fear, not story. I was too focused on horror conventions that I lost sight of what it means to create a horror trailer and ultimately created a scene, so when my group creates the final version of the trailer, I will learn from these mistakes and incorporate the true conventions that make an enjoyable horror trailer.


Pros/Cons: 

Pros: 
- There was use of lowkey lighting 
- In terms of sound, I included the inception horn at the end
- Identifiable as a Slasher 
- A scene after the jumpscare 
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Cons: 
- Too little of the antagonist was shown 
- No use of props 
- Include a montage at the end to create a sense of excitement and tension
- More effect on jumpscare 
- Faster editing techniques