The Cabin in the Woods Trailer Analysis

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS TRAILER ANALYSIS

This is the opening scene for the trailer of Cabin in the Woods . It is an establishing shot to show the group of friends inside the van. The group of friends are happy, laughing , smiling and excited for there vacation. We know this happiness will not last as this is a horror film, and there is never a happy ending.

This is a mid shot of one of the protagonist She is a stereotypical character seen in teen films/dramas. Her blonde her makes her seem like she will be the “blonde bimbo” in the film. This is also shown on the film poster where it gives each character a heading and she is given the heading of ‘the whore.’ In this shot we are aware that the group of friends are lost as the girl is holding a GPS and is saying ‘we are lost.’ This is a typical horror plot; a group of friends getting lost.

This is a screen shot taken from the trailer, showcasing the distributor of the film which is ‘LIONSGATE.’ Lionsgate are a well known distributor located in the United States. Therefore they will have a wide range of audiences that follow them. This is also an example of promoting, thus people that are interested in the film will want to see what other films that Lionsgate have distributed.

This is an interior shot taken through a window to show the gas station. This is a classic horror shot of an abandoned gas station with a group of teenagers lost and ran out of gas. This is also another typical plot in horror. Films. The purpose this has is that it lets the audience know that this film will have classic conventions and plots of a horror/teen horror film. It will also bring to mind a lot of questions such as where are the teenagers? Where are they trying to go? And will they find where they need to go?

These are different screen shots of the titles that appear in the trailer. The titles appear at different types but carry on the sentence for each other. ‘You think you know the story’ ‘You think you know the place’ ‘Think again.’ The purpose of the titles is that it leaves the audience wanting to watch the film to try and understand what the ‘story’ is and how the film will have as twist, as you can guess it will not be a straight forward scenario.

This is a interior shot of a HQ room. This shot establishes the scene and what is going on. There are big screens that overlook into the atmosphere and the globe, which suggest that the people in the HQ room have a lot of power and perhaps can see what is going on in the woods, cabins and world. However this is not a typical scene that you will see in a horror film, which links to the title ‘you think you know the story, think again.’ The film has a lot to offer that the audience would not expect.

This is close up of the blonde girl screaming. It is another classic shot. She is outside in the woods, in the dark, alone and vulnerable. In her facial expression you can see that she is very scared and frightened. The lighting in this scene is very dark, her face has only 1 spot lighting so that her facial expression is seen very clear and that we are aware it’s the blonde girl that is being under attack. In most horror films, the blonde girls are always the first to die. Perhaps she might be.

This is an extreme close up of a hand saw penetrating through a door just beside one of the protagonist face. This prop is a iconic weapon used in horror films, especially in this type of scene. The weapon is blacked out which leaves a silhouette effect to it, which makes it look very mysterious.

The trailer for this film is effective because it uses a lot of classic scenes and conventions of a horror genre. It also shows a variety of stereotypical characters that are seen in a lot of teen drama programs and movies, this shows that the target market for the film are teens/young adults age ranged from 16-25.The titles don’t appear often throughout the trailer but when it does it carries on with the next sentence which engages the audience as they carry on watching the trailer to see how the sentence will end and what it will reveal about the film. The close up are used to show how each of the characters are different and what they may bring to the film. The questions that are raised from the trailer are:

What makes this horror film so different to others?

Why is there a HQ room?

Who’s/what is after the groups of friends?

Who will die first?

Will they survive?

These are just typical questions that are usually raised from horror films.