http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5s5kc5nzGA
This film was directed by James Wan in 2007 and it is renowned for giving murderous dolls a new lease of life in the horror industry.
The trailer starts off with quite pleasant sounding country music, the camera does a slow zoom so we can see the source of the music which is a radio. This is a use of diegetic sound. While the music is still playing the clip changes and a skinny woman who appears to be dressed in quite casual clothes: a blue vest top and blue jeans walks by (the camera is stationary, but this still counts as a medium shot). She stops and checks herself out in the mirror, almost as if she is waiting for someone to come home that she is trying to impress.
The lighting is quite dark in some places, especially in the room where the radio is held, this also shows that she is alone.
When it comes to settings I would say that the woman is in a house which has a hint of luxury to it, I think this because there appears to be mahogany paneling which is quite expensive.
We then zoom back into the radio and we hear the music slowly stop in slow motion almost as if someone has turned a dial. The moment this happens the atmosphere becomes quite tense, this is intensified when the woman says 'Jamie'. This shows us that she is alone in the house and also that she is American.
The camera then uses some jump cuts to different parts of the house showing that there is no one else there, until the camera stops next to a wall to show the bedroom which is unlit but the audience can still see the bed and a dark shape standing under a sheet. She walks slowly towards the bedroom and the audience can hear deep breathing.
As she walks towards the bed ready to lift up the sheet there is silence and then a pressurized sound almost like a strong wind, as the tension builds there is a blackout and then silence. Suddenly we see her hand reach out and a series of jump cuts are used to show the sheet flying up and her screaming.
There is the sound of a knife being unsheathed and a bloody smear across the floor, and her hand moving along the floor like she is being dragged along the floor. There is a flash of hard lighting and we see her face illuminated as she screams. The camera uses an extreme close up on her open mouth, this shows the audience that something is going to happen to her mouth.
Some writing then comes up against a black background, with information about another film that the same writer and director has worked on comes up. The writing is a very pale green which I think further shows that this film has supernatural elements. It is also important as it means that the audience are going to become quite nervous as there is silence which ultimately means that there is something in the next shot which is going to make them jump.
There is a low angle shot of a light in what appears to be an operating room as in the next shot we see a piece of medical equipment being picked up. After this there is a succession of shots showing a baby doll. The environment changes completely and shows a board on a bridge which has the words 'Raven Bridge' on it and behind it a road. This will show the audience that they are now in a different location. A sound bridge is then used of a man talking about a ghost story in this town, this leads us to the next shot which is a medium close up of a man who looks to be in his early twenties talking to a detective who has a very skeptical look on his face.
Another sound bridge is used of an old man talking and the location changes once again to show us a shot of an old woman sitting on a stage with an ventriloquist doll, while this is happening the man is explaining who the old woman is and what happened to her. We then see a close up of the man talking which helps to introduce another character. We then get an close up of a very creepy doll.
The scene changes again to be replaced by more writing giving a hint of what is to come 'comes a new experience', this writing is obviously connected to the information shown before but they are cleverly integrating it with the film clips.
The sound bridge starts again with the same man talking, but with a shot of the young man shown before rowing up to an abandoned theatre. The man is then seen in a very dark, creepy dressing room with several mirrors, and the man talking about someone going missing when he was a child. A quick shot of a newspaper headline and a photo are shown to confirm his information. There are flashes from a torch which show us several villagers advancing through some woods, the story is told by a different man talking, who we then get to see. He looks quite powerful as he has good posture.
For the first time we are then treated to a shot of Mary Shaw, the lady that they are all talking about. There is more writing that gives a hint of what is about to happen. A sound bridge is used and it appears to be the old man again talking about what happened to Mary Shaw.
There is a shot of a metal razor being held up in the air and then a blackout, however there is still a voice over explaining what happened.
There is an establishing shot of a car turning into a street and the old man saying that 'the town has been plagued by death ever since'. The audience are given the impression that the car belongs to the old man as we see him in his mortuary zipping open a body bag (the camera appears to be in the bag tilting up to catch the mans expression).
There is a very quick shot of a face which appears to have has its tongue ripped out. We then return to the old mans living room and are shown (using jump cuts) a succession of photos showing victims with their tongues cut out. This will help to disturb the audience, as the images are very gruesome. The old man continues the voice over explaining what happened to them. There are faint sounds of people screaming in agony which the audience are meant to associate with the victims.
There is an important shot of writing telling the audience the expected month of release. Another voice over (this time from the young man) which gives the audience more information about the old lady's obsession with dolls. The pace starts to pick up again with a succession of jump cuts showing us some of the dolls faces (extreme close up). We then switch again to the old man doing the voice over and a following pan showing the dolls sitting around a table. The writing comes on again quite slowly (which is a direct contrast to the speed of the images) saying that the dolls will come back to life.
We go to another shot where we see the detective pushing the young man back and implying that he has dug up the dolls, we then see a spectacular birds eye view of many open graves and the dolls names on the stones. This is very chilling. The writing comes up again with the words 'with a vengeance' , this will show the audience that the dolls are going to murder many people.
The dignified man from earlier supplies the voice over with quite an emotionless voice, this would suggest to the audience that it is an awful event. This is accompanied by an extreme close up shot of a dolls eye moving sideways as the man continues to talk. There is another pressurized sound (which helps to build tension) and a panning shot of a doll half hidden behind a red curtain (which is a foretell of the blood which is going to be spilt).
There is silence once again and then the sound of wind blowing as a tracking shot is used to suggest that the audience are going down a long isolated corridor (the audience are meant to assume that this is in the old theatre). The sound of blowing wind continues and is superimposed with the sound of a creaking rocking chair.
A two person shot of the detective and young man is used to show that they are in the abandoned theatre with torches, searching for something, until of course they realise that Mary Shaw is there (in spirit form). The wind has stopped but we finally find the source of the creaking sound which is a clown doll rocking back and forth in the rocking chair until two hands appear, wrapped around his face and drag it backwards. This being combined with another pressurized sound is enough to make anybody jump. After this we see the men looking scared.
A wall filled with dolls in cases faces the camera and a reaction shot of the two men is used, we see one dolls head start to move and a shout from the detective. After this there is a quick succession of cuts showing the dolls heads turning and we hear creaking sounds emanating from their necks.
A very scary voice over which sounds like it is coming from two combined children starts talking and we see the dolls faces elongate so that they look human. The voice over continues as we see dolls hands creeping around a doorway, a child on the floor and a shot of the old woman's rotting face, an extreme close up is then used to show the young boy cowering against a wall. The voice over stops for a brief second so we can hear (and see) the detective and young man trying to destroy the dolls. It stars again as the detective falls off a balcony. The clowns face suddenly looms out of the darkness and the young mans expression is shown. There is a brief explosion and we see shots of the men in the water and the woman from the start of the trailer with her tongue cut off. There are more quick shots of Mary Shaw and the men. The screen goes black and the children's voice over starts again, just as the audience think it is all over the audience see the young man trying to pull himself back on to a balcony and Mary Shaw appears with a screech into the mans face.
We are finally given the name of the film, they put it right after the action, this is a good idea as it means that the audience are not likely to forget the name of the film. Suddenly there is another loud noise and the man falls to the ground, trying in vain to cover his mouth. The clip ends with the sound of laboured breathing and the month of release.
Some of the settings that are used in this trailer are typical of the horror genre, namely; graveyard, old abandoned theatre, a seemingly safe house, a little village/town and a mortuary. Some of the shots used in this trailer are also typical of horror films, the jump cuts and the diegetic sounds. Another sound often used are the sounds of screams, these are used repeatedly through this trailer.
When it came to costumes I noticed that Mary Shaw was dressed all in black which helps to emphasise that she is the villain. However, the detective wore a long cream coloured coat which is typical of that character in Horror films and the young man, aka Jamie wore quite casual clothes; blue jeans and button up shirts.
Several weapons were also seen in this trailer, these where the gun and the razor.
When it comes to structure I would say that some of the characters are recognizable when it comes to analysing which roles they play, when using Propp.
The villains would probably be Mary Shaw and her dolls (although admittedly she was murdered).
The hero: Jamie (the young man).
The donor/dispatcher: I feel that the old man would take this part as he is giving Jamie information, I also feel that he would double as the dispatcher.
The helper: I feel that this would be the detective as he does accompany Jamie to help him destroy the dolls.
The princess/ the father: I feel that the people who live in the town/ village would fit this role as by destroying the dolls, Jamie would be saving the town from more gruesome deaths.
The false hero: I feel that maybe the detective would fit this role as although he does help Jamie in the end he appears to spend most of the time trying to accuse Jamie of something.
However, I am not sure if Todorov's theory could be used in this trailer as the last thing we see is Jamie landing on a stone ground covering his face which does not bode well for the ending. Admittedly though, horrors very rarely have happy endings (thankfully).
When it comes to themes/binary opposites I would say that these are the main ones that can be seen in this trailer: Binary Opposites:
- Good/evil
- Life/death
- Light/dark
- Help/hinder
- Calm/frantic
- Justice/injustice
- Loud/quiet
- Fast/slow (suspense)
- Interior/exterior
- Day/night
- Natural/ supernatural
- Death
- Blood
- Retribution
- Evil
- Hate
- Loss
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