Trailer Analysis - 'The Uninvited'

‘The Uninvited’ – Trailer Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0eeAQGGwCU

In this trailer it is very clear from the beginning who the protagonist is, a young girl between the ages 16-20 who has a very sweet and innocent look about her. There are a few clips at the beginning to show the past of this girl, ‘You lost your mother in the fire, maybe it’s not such a bad thing to forget, go home, you’ll figure it out’. The young girl returns home and there is a very positive and cheery feeling to this part of the trailer as she is reunited with her family. Clips of her and her sister are shown having fun and being happy to be together until her sister states, ‘I assume you saw dads new girlfriend’  after which, a clip of their dads new girlfriend is shown as a very ghostly sound effect is played. This insinuates to the audience that there is a dark secret about this woman, instantly pulling the audience in. This brings the theme of ‘the hidden evil inside’ to the trailer which is a very popular theme in horror. Keeping the evil secret hidden usually increases the scare factor with horrors as the audience doesn’t know what the characters are really up against.

          Slow and serious music is played in the background as further clips are shown of the family getting along with the protagonist’s recent arrival. Clips of the protagonist talking with each character (her dad, her sister and dad’s new girlfriend) are shown to give the audience an idea of the family relationships. After these, a POV shot from the protagonist is shown looking through the keyhole of her dad’s bedroom to vaguely show the new girlfriend doing something with her dad. Using the keyhole makes it harder for the audience to see so it is unclear of what the new girlfriend is doing as to keep this character’s secret hidden and therefore keeping the audience interested.

           Soon after this, there are a few clips on the funeral of the protagonist’s mother and one clip is another POV shot from the protagonist who is standing opposite her dad’s new girlfriend. As she bends down to put a flower on the coffin the clip turns to black and white and a little girl in old fashioned clothes is standing behind her staring right at the protagonist. The old fashioned clothes are a very important detail to the mise-en-sene. POV shots are often used in horrors to put the audience in the eyes of either the protagonist or the monster which raises issues about the audience’s identification. Also, the fact that the clip turns to black and white at the sight of the ghost gives a very spooky feeling to the trailer. We then hear the ghosts voice in the background, ‘You’re too late’ and again, because the audience has no idea what she is too late for they continue to be lured in and want to know more, therefore selling the movie.

           From this point, a certain piano piece of background music is played as we watch clips as the protagonist explains her visions and ‘weird happenings’ to her sister. The piano music gives a very serious feeling to this point of the trailer. Any clips of the ghost children (there are more shown now) continue to be in black and white. The black and white effect and the old fashioned clothes show the audience that these ghost are from the ‘olden days’ which gives the theme of ‘the past coming back to terrorize’ which is yet another common convention of horror. The music becomes more up-beat as the protagonist comes closer and closer to revealing the secrets, although not giving anything away as to keep the audience interested.

          Towards the end of the trailer, shorter and faster action clips are shown, only showing glimpses of the monster for example, a gruesome looking hand coming out from under the bed or an over the shoulder shot of the monster so the audience vaguely sees the monsters demented body. Only showing part of the monster or quick, vague glimpses of the monster allows the audience to use their own imagination to think of their own personal frightening monster. ‘Keeping the monster in the dark’ is a very common convention of horror as putting a clear view on the monster for a certain amount of time can decrease its scare factor and loses its mysterious and secretive factor.

In total, roughly 106 shots.