Annabelle Film trailer analysis

Annabelle

Genre

• This film is a horror film and this is shown by many iconic images such as blood and dolls throughout this trailer, dolls are often things of horror for most people as they feel that they are watching them and this film portrays that exactly and that is often some peoples biggest fears.

• Loud Diegetic screaming is heart often throughout the film trailer and this adds to the effect of fear as it makes you feel uneasy when watching, non-diegetic sounds in the background such as kids toys playing also adds the direct area of the genre by involving children to the horror which is unmasking at the scene of the film/trailer.

Narrative

• The father figure within this film buys a vintage doll, one night there house attacked by a satanic cult who attack the family and they have now moved there power within themselves and transformed it into the doll of ‘Annabelle’

• This doll then becomes an iconic image of the film as it is the main substance of all that is to go wrong throughout the film whther it is death or jump scares which are to occur the doll is to have some relevance to what happens.

• The Doll is to cause terror within the house and other objects within it break stuff or in the case which is shown setting the house on fire by turning the stove on and making something explode.

• Overall throughout the doll will cause misdirection when concentrating on a key scene and will be the main image for disruption of a scene throughout

Unique selling point

• The film lasts for 2 minutes and 19 seconds and consists of around 95-100 shots, it was hard to gain a rough estimate as it was extremely quick throughout.

• This film is shown to be by Warner brothers which is a large company within the film industry so people may be attracted to the large logo and think it must be a good watch if it is produce by a good producer.

• The film is a link to another horror film created called ‘The Conjuring’ and if people enjoyed that film and want to view something similar then they may be drawn in to watch this film as it is a post film to the one you have just watched and it may interested them.

Camera angles

• The first shot of the film trailer is an establishing shot of the area of which the main action is going to take place, it shows the home of which the owners of the doll are. This is often used at the start of horror films to show where the action is going to take place.

Camera angles

• This medium long shot of the family which is going to be shown through the film is showing that they are in the comfort of there own home where the horror is going to take place, this image is also iconic as it is the first real image of when we get to see the doll which is ‘Annabelle’.

Camera angles

• This medium shot is important as it shows the horror aspect and brings a horrific few onto things to come with the sight of blood and the doll raped in the dead women's arms. It slowly zooms in the has a picture of the dolls face showing its expressionless face as blood drips into the eye. This is a extremely good shot as it shows of things yet to come.

Camera angles

• This is the final shot of the film trailer. It is close up on the doll ‘Annabelle’ rocking back and forth in the chair looking into the camera. This is an extremely effective shot as it looks deep into you and creates a sense of fear

Target audience

• The target audience can be varied from around late teens such as 16 – 30 years old, but id say concluding from the age of the actors the target audience would be based around 21 – 27 as that seem the age of the two main actors as a young couple. I do believe it does target a younger audience than this because of the added effect with the doll and this could be seen as a younger audience pleaser.

• I believe that the trailer has done an excellent job of targeting the audience by playing with the viewers emotions and making them feel apart of the horror which is undertaking during the film.

Relationship between characters

There is a clear relationship going on between the main female and male character, they seem to have a strong bonded relationship and could possibly be married. They have a child which is also shown further on through the film trailer and shows there love for each other. As the trailer goes on trust starts to be twisted and broken as the doll starts to play on there minds and tries to bring them apart.

The Doll plays a strong roll of attaching itself to the mother as if it is reliant on her, the mother is not fond of it but it never seems to leave her side, this relationship is not one which she wants but one she is almost forced into.

Mise-en-scene

• The mise-en-scene of the film is one based on a average house within America and you would not expect much of the people inside, seem like a normal family and the lighting indicates a happy vibe at the start.

• As the film goes on the lighting takes a darker turn to it showing that things are turning for the worst and that its only going to get darker and harder for them to cope.

• The use of blood and clothingsuggests that it is based quite within the 1950’s +

• I have done some further research and found out that the film was based within the year 1969 and that would explain the clothing on the dolls being quite poorly fabricated and the colour.

Music/mood

• The music starts of firstly quite cheerful and quite peaceful this stays at this pace until the night of the disturbance next door. This gives a calming mood and shows they are a regular family and nothing bad has happened to them. With the hearing of screaming next door then people entering the house the non-diegetic soundtrack then takes a turn into a darker scene with it becoming more disturbing and harder to listen to with it almost buzzing in your ear making the mood extremely uneasy. It stays like this until the last scene where the doll is in the rocking chair then the use of diegetic sound of a music box being played is used to make an eerie atmosphere and it created this extremely well as I found it very hard to watch as it was disturbing to look and listen to.

Pace

• The pace of the trailer is quite fast as it has a range of 95 – 100 shots in, the montage is extremely quick in this sometimes fitting five shots into the space of two seconds making the scene seem extremely disturbing and flashy creating a long lasting effect on you the viewer. The start of the trailer is quite slow but still has a rather quick pace to it making it seem that anything could happen, keeping you on edge. There is a soft break before a quick montage often the pace will slow down for a more dramatic breakdown of a few clips which are upcoming making you more anxious of what is about to happen.

Dialogue

• There is quite a lot of diegetic dialogue within this trailer and it is used to good effect creating eerie and often a good narrative when reading through it.

• ‘I like your doll’

• ‘You survives… what is there left to be scared of’

• ‘she fits right in’

• Something is happening we cant explain’

• ‘what you are experiencing is not ghosts’

• ‘demons can attach themselves to objects’

• ‘what do I do?’

• ‘Who are you?’

• These are all very important quotes which I have been able to pull from the trailer and have a huge impact on the viewers emotions and help you interact you to the film and create a large interest for what could happen next. Questions given such as ‘who are you’ and ‘what do I do?’ make you want to watch on and see what happens creating a stronger code of enigma.

Special effects

• There are a lot of special effects used in this mainly effects such as fading to black, blurring and flashing. These all create a great effect on the view focusing in on something and then being shocked by something else which comes out when blurring is used and fading to black is often use to deteriorate a scene where a quick montage has been so showing the darkness is like a no escape area. The quick flashing on the scene is to make a lasting memory for the view. These special effects are extremely effective as a viewer and makes you want to watch more.

Credits and intertitles

• ‘From producer James Wan’

• ‘Before The Conjuring’

• ‘There was Annabelle’

• ‘ANNABELLE’

• ‘Warner brothers’

• ‘Newline cinema’

Code of enigma…

• There are many questions which this film leaves you with such as…

• Who are the people who first come in the house and attack the family?

• What happens to the doll?

• What happens to the family?

• What happens to the kid?

• These are all extremely big questions which I found when watching the trailer and drawn me in to try and find out more.

Film Trailers

• Film trailers are excellent promotional devices as they interact with you and you can gain an emotional bond with the viewer as they may be able to relate to someone within the film and share emotions with what they are seeing by past experiences.

• Compared to posters they are extremely effective as it shows important rolls within the film and characters and more of a story line which draws in the viewer more effectively than a still image.