The Last Exorcism Trailer Deconstruction

'The Last Exorcism' teaser trailer explores the story of the possession of a teenage girl and her father’s fight for the soul of his daughter. The audience is introduced to this situation by the Reverend called on to perform the exorcism, the hook of the film is that although the exorcist has “performed over 50 exorcisms”, this is unlike anything he has ever seen. Its contextual relevance of this horror film comes from the use of a teenage main character and her demonic possession.

 

The teaser begins with the recognition of two institutions through the presence of idents. Lionsgate, Strike and Studio Canal are all featured, with usually only two used this is somewhat unconventional but suggests very high production values with three difference companies involved in fabrication.

The use of a conventionally attractive yet innocent looking main character features in both this trailer and in our own production. This is highlighted by the figures pale skin with little to no makeup, coupled with long, dark unstyled hair. The shots of these characters are also very similar, both represented through a facial close up. One slight difference is shot angle, this is interesting because of the characters’ very different role in each film. Where as in 'The Last Exorcism' this teenager becomes an object of demonic possession and therefore an antagonist, our production is the opposite. Our representation of an innocent girl is the idea of the ‘final girl’, a protagonist, the eventual survivor and eradicator of the demon. A high angled shot on the former is deceiving, convincing the audience of her apparent innocence. Our piece features a very slightly low angled shot on the character, demonstrating her power, though it may not be immediately apparent.

A use of weapon against a demon by protagonist is a common convention of horror films. In 'The Last Exorcism' this is fabrication through the use of a religious object, a crucifix, often thought to warn off the devil. This object suggests an idea that the possession is an on-going problem and there have been plans and preparations in order to deal with it. The use of a knife to protect a character against a demon suggests quite the opposite. This is a common household item that has more likely been grabbed in order at an attempt of self-preservation by the character. That lack of knowledge of the danger creates fear in the viewer.

In the trailer there is a short sample of the demon speaking through the possessed body, this is coupled with a close up very different to the shot we saw of the teenage girl earlier. She now appears someone completely different, no longer a sweet innocent girl but a brutal, bedraggled figure of evil. Her hair has been thrown over her face, suggesting she is on all four and has risen from the floor like an animal. This theme is continued through her stance with face tilted down, giving the feeling of a predator about to strike. One of own shots is comparable, a possession takes over as the character rolls her head, jolting from side to side.

Over the shoulder/close up shots of the character observes their possession in a mirror features in both productions. In 'The Last Exorcism' this is effectively achieved by a lack of focus on the actual character making her a background figure. The camera is actually focuses on the mirror itself and two crop ears laid against it; this creates fear because the threat cannot be properly evaluated because the audience is not allowed to see it clearly. The mirror itself is dirty, between this and the corn it suggests that she is in the family barn, in a rural area and therefore an idea of isolation. This isolation seems a lack of aid for other characters to protect themselves from this threat. Our own mirror shot demonstrates the effect physically of the demon on the character.

The bizarre, unnatural movements of a demon using human body is a feature used very commonly in possessive horror films, 'The Last Exorcism' is no exception. This action has been enhanced through the use of a vignette effect in order to create a shadow around the image. This implies that the figure is cast in torch light and there poses an immediate threat to the character holding the light/camera. A red filter has also been overlaid to give the idea of horror and a strong possibility of danger. The footage itself has been flipped so that it appears that the possessed is in fact crawling on the ceiling towards the audience; on closer inspection the angling of the door means that it is the camera that is upside down and not the character, this is supported by the position of her hair in relation to gravity. However, initially this creates an impossible and therefore supernaturally fearsome action. This suggests that maybe some home footage of the possession has gone wrong and the camera person has been forced to abandoned the camera, it has however continue to film and capture the true horror. In our production we also use the action of crawling. Doing this upstairs creates an animalistic quality and also very unnatural shapes, for example, the characters’ arms appear to be abnormally long.

- Meg

Also see... The Last Exorcism Poster Deconstruction

The Haunting in Connecticut Trailer Deconstruction

The teaser trailer of ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ begins with the introduction the producers of the film. Idents for Lionsgate and Gold Circle feature exclusively in the first second of the production suggesting that it perhaps is a low production film with a main selling point of its narrative.

Immediately the first scene is establishes the location of the narrative and our starting point; a single parent family has moved to a new home. The rural setting and classic model of the only car featured implies isolation from others and therefore aid in the horror they will soon face. This is confirmed by the fact that she is a single mother; the absence of a male adult leaves them all at risk.

  

Instead of a voice over in the initial scenes, a conversation between the mother and a local demonstrate the suspiciousness of the situation. This is when the audience learns that the house is not as it seems and that the history of the house will lead to the disruption of the family.

A piece of particularly affective sound is featured during the first ‘scary bit’, at ten seconds one of the children steps through an old floor board. Between the moments of her breaking the board then hitting the floor there is an interesting whoosh, the trailer then cuts to black. This is paralleled in our production at around twenty-six seconds; the boom and blackout signals the sudden end of the soundtrack and the beginning of the use of the Ouija board. Both sounds show a presence of the supernatural. From this point the presence in both productions grows stronger.

From here on lighting completely changes. The environment demonstrates the mood, in the beginning there is excitement and hope of a new life, the scenes or full of warm natural light; this is sharply juxtaposed after the floorboard accident. Suddenly the light turns cold, flickering candles and a general lack of light means characters are cast in shadow. The darkness continues for the rest of the trailer to match the tone of disruption of the initial happiness the family felt.

A recurring feature throughout the production is a voiceover of key lines. The trailer dips in and out of the scenes the dialogue is from and often over laps onto other shots that demonstrate what is being said, for example the line “They held séances in this house” continues across three difference shots, an extreme close up of the main character holding photographs of a séance, the second is a character saying the dialogue, and then a variety of séance stills. This use of sound is effective because of the information is gives to the audience, some of the most interesting scenes can be seamlessly tied together.

One shot that we were interested in replicating shows a threat that the audience can see but the protagonist is currently unaware of. The unseen threat invokes helpless feelings in the viewer, the dramatic irony creates fear. The way this is done in ‘The Haunting in Connecticut is a dark reflection in a television screen; at situation that is relatable to by the viewer and is often a fear for example late at night after watching TV. Our idea was the entrance of an unknown figure through a door in the background with our main character in the foreground. Unfortunately the scene we created that was inspired by this shot failed because of the relatively poor entry level camera we used in comparison to that used to create a million dollar blockbuster.

 

 One shot from a séance scene of the trailer features a young man exhibiting a possession. As an known substance flows out of him mouth he makes small juddering movements possibly associated with the physical act of throwing up but also a signal of his possession. The last few second of our product feature a very similar effect with head rolling. These unnatural movements are jarring to the viewer, letting them know the supernatural is at play.

Often in films about the supernatural the spirit(s) attempt to communicate with the protagonist, more often than not as a warning of the danger they are in and of the power of the spirit and ability to cause harm. In ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’ this is done through the appearance of etching into a characters skin. Although the message cannot be identified in the short moment that is shown, both viewer and character realise the enormity to the threat posed. This visual is made more effective but the variety of shot shown of the wounds, something that we chose to replicate in our own production.

 

Common themes in possessive horrors are scene of attempted contact with spirits creating a feeling that actually these people brought it on themselves. Group gathering to perform this activity feature in this and our trailer and unites the characters in the taboo act.




- Meg



Also see... The Haunting in Connecticut Poster Deconstruction

Night of the Demons Teaser Trailer Deconstruction

First of all the familiar green rating card, used to clarify certification, is shown. This shows that the film has been rated R for 'restricted' due to its 'bloody horror violence/gore and language throughout, some sexuality, nudity and drug use. This indicates that these are the main themes of the film, and that the trailer will show us a few examples in short. These themes fit in with the conventions of a teen slasher film, mainly due to the idea of sexuality, drug use and bloddy horror violence. The next three shots are of the film's idents - EntertainmentOne, Seven Arts and Parallel Media. If there are films that the audience recognise as having these institutions that they like, whether or not they were the same genre, it might encourage them to be interested in this film too. The music begins with the introduction of the idents, with a slow 'jazzy' rock song playing non diegetically. This music could be to connotate the calm and relaxed attitude of the characters in the next scene.

Dispersed between the shots of the teenagers partying, there is text on red screens, the colour connotating blood and horror, highlighting a central theme. This text together reads "This Halloween get ready to party down and raise some hell". This gives a general summary of what the film will be about, and is used to involve the audience like they're characters by inviting them along through telling them to 'get ready to party down'. This will help to get the audience to relate the characters, and grab their attention so they watch the trailer the whole way through. This is why we used a similar idea of introducing the characters in a relatable way so that the viewers will continue to watch the misfortunes of the characters they have seen. When the last screen saying 'and raise some hell' ends, the music stops as one of the character's says in a voiceover 'Something's not right' before a close up of the main character, who is a tall young blonde and conventionally pretty girl (very stereotypical of character appearence in teen horror films) with a demon next to her, with a non diegetic screeching noise, before a new piece of music is started, which is more upbeat than the last.

There a few shots after this before the 'lull' in the trailer occurs, with the music stopping and the main character saying 'ew'  at the one of the demons, which brings a sense of comedy to the film, a common feature in this new and emerging genre of horror. A third song is now played with a screaming voice which adds to the tension and pace of the rest of the trailer. This is an idea that we noticed in a lot of horror film trailers, which is why in ours we have used many non diegetic sounds such as screams, laughter and whispering to create the tense atmosphere we want our audience to feel. In this section of the trailer most of the main action shots are shown, giving a brief summary of what most of the film will be about. Again dispersed between these are red text screens, this time together spelling out "The night belongs to them". The music then speeds up before reaching its climax, which then a non diegetic 'bang' is heard and the title screen is shown. The title itself is in bold white capital letters, and has a stylised font with the 'o's and 'd's having a cross instead of a gap in the letters themselves. There are also 'patches' of red on the letters, connotating blood, like the text screens, perhaps the blood of the characters, whose fate is still unknown to us. After the title there are some slower scenes shown, eventually with one showing the main girl loading a gun before saying "Come and get me mother f..." before she is cut off by the credits and a 'coming soon' screen, both with the same font as the title. This method of cutting her half way through the sentence not only leaves the story wide open, but due to the swear word being cut off, the trailer once agains creates a brief sense of comedy.

The visual effects aren't a key feature of the trailer but they still play a part. In rhe text screens there are the patches of blood that are also shown in the title screen as mentioned before. The transitions aren't very complicated, with use of fade to black and straight cuts.


How can this film trailer be used to inspire/show similarities to our media product?
The main similarities to our film are the types of characters, sub genre and makeup. Just like ours the Night of the Demons focuses on young people who may be percieved as promiscious and have a rebellious nature, dressing provactively and going to parties, who are then later punished by demons of some kind. This trailer also links to ours in terms of a new definitive sub genre of horror, teen horror, which although has been shown in films such as Halloween and Sorority Row previously, has begun to rise to prominence in recent years. The use of makeup is very similar: we have used the makeup in this trailer for inspiration when using makeup on our own actors - I think the main comparison in terms of makeup is the face of the 'demon' girl - above in the screen shot of the trailer you can see the girl covered in this makeup, and it look very similar to the shot of Emma, one of our actors, looking in the mirror when she has been possessed in our trailer.

- Rhiannon

The Craft Trailer Deconstruction

Only a theatrical trailer was ever created for the 1996 film The Craft, nevertheless there are many elements of the film that have influenced our production. Although the overall structure of this trailer with numerous shots lasting more than a few seconds could be considered fairly slow paced, there are many that our piece parallels. The Craft trailer is ordered in the following way;

·         Introduction of school environment and “the other kids” by voiceover

·         Creates a distinction between main characters and everyone else

·         Highlights discrimination and prejudice suffered at the hands of their peers, they are social outcasts

·         First time main characters are fazed by mistreatment is when weaker of the group is rejected by a boy on the grounds of her association with her friendship group. Popular girls snigger as she pleads.

·         Her anger at being undermined as shared by the group and they resolve to get their own back using black magic and truly living up to their stereotype, making it their strength.

·         The magic becomes real, the last two thirds of the trailer features a sequences of shots involving rituals, controlling their peers with the magic and the possible ill consequences of their actions in the form of an explosion, a car accident, the girls being sick with power and many more.

There is also very familiar mise en scene that can be expected of two films featuring schoolgirls and dark forces. This resonates mostly in the costuming of the characters.

·         White shirts

·         Black skirts

·         Knee socks/tights

·         Long hair

·         Individual changes in each character costumes, dressed alike but not the same

·         Figure enhancing outfits

·         Similar number in the group

·         Use of makeup/jewellery

The editing of The Craft used includes transitions that are majority straight cuts; however, the shots fade into each other during scenes of magic rituals. We have used slow motion in a similar way, during a group walking shot to enhance the perceived power that the girls have.

Effective shots

This shot demonstrates the rejection of the group by the school community. Their dark clothes juxtapose a bright, religiously themed mural in the background and even the canteen food in the foreground. They do not partake even in the activity of eating school food, preferring to watch the others in what obviously seems like mass conformity.

The close up profile of each of the girls is shown against the background of the sea, they fade into each other. They are united in their mission and yet are still individuals in their own right. The location disagrees with the implication of what their peers may believe
about their actions of witchcraft being against God and therefore nature. It almost suggests that they are using powers provided by the Earth to aid them, making them morally superior despite what wrongful actions they may partake in.

This close up shot demonstrates the use of their powers for trivial purposes, reminding the audience that despite the magic, they are still just teenage girls. It also reminds of their friendship, their laughter is relatable and the audience can appreciate the bond between the girls and share in their fun.

The bird’s eye view shot and contrapuntal sound of thunder almost suggests a higher power is watching them, ready to grant their prayers. The location and arrangement of the scene suggests pagan origins to their ritual and that the girls are united as one in their beliefs and power. However, the shadow of a figure to the right suggests they are being watched. This person is not part of the group and presents to them a danger.

This point of view shot focuses on the glass falling and then smashing on the floor. Out of focus are, we assume, one of the group’s feet, wear white socks stained with red. The floor and inside of the glass also has splattering of red, suggesting blood and a grim outcome to the use of their magic. Not only that but the possibility of the consumption of blood, intriguing the viewer.

This shot is effective because of the suggestion of lesbianism. Not only is the scene titillating but the audience experiences a kind of voyeurism in watching two girls interact semi clothed in an outside environment. It is ambiguous to whether this action is to do with their powers or something else. The presence of just the two of them in this intimate act would suggest something else.




-Meg




Also see... The Craft Poster Deconstruction