Charlotte Joyce

MEDIA LANGUAGE INVESTIGATION

Production Company Logo

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET TRAILERThe trailer opens with the logo of the production company, it is a very well known company, so it connotes to people that know the company that it will be very good. We then see a few long establishing shots, this cinematography shows the audience that the setting is abandoned and isolated. Within the establishing shots the use of the dark lighting, foggy atmosphere as well as leaking pipes and litter is used, this mise-en-scene creates a mysterious atmosphere, not only that but most of the audience wouldn’t want to be in that setting, this creates a sense of unease within them and this instantly builds a sense of fear. As the establishing shots are shown there is diegetic sound of a man breathing heavily. As the scene continues we realise that the heavy breathing is from a man running away from cars chasing him, tense non-diegetic sound is added to the scene as the chase gets tenser the rhythm beat is increased, this giving a tense action atmosphere to the trailer straight away. The following shot is of the man being chased entering an abandoned building and locking the door behind him. It then cuts to a mid shot of the people coming out of the cars and following the man to the building. The people are wearing casual clothes and are middle aged this mise-en-scene could indicate that they are parents, chasing the man for reasons we don’t know yet. A

Isolated and abandoned setting

Chase scene

Man surrounded by fire

Director Street sign

Close-up of metal hand

Close-up of child Two-shot of antagonist

man at the front of the group holding a hockey stick in his hand shouts, “Krueger, come out you sick bastard!” From this we realise that the man being chased is called Krueger and the hockey stick indicating that the parents are clearly upset with something and that the scene is going to get violent. The upbeat music is still continued, this sound indicates the tension is still building. The next few shots are mid shots of Krueger catching fire. Diegetic sound is still used but this time of Krueger’s cries and screams burning alive. Whilst he is on fire he takes of his coat to stop the fire, he is wearing a red and black striped jumper underneath which the camera focuses on. The scene cuts back and forth between Krueger burning and close ups of the facial expressions of the parents. The facial expressions showing they feel bad listening to Krueger burning alive and probably regret the decision they made in fury. The lighting in the building was back lit by the flames of the fire, the back lit lighting creates a shadowy figure, which builds up more suspense for the audience. When Kruger is burning alive the pose he is using could connote he is transforming into a monster and the flames could represent hell, this is very scary for the audience. The scene then fades to black, non diegetic sound of a single drum beat is played as the producers name appears on screen in a red font with a black background, the red font maybe symbolising blood, maybe indicate the horror genre. It then cross-fades to black again but this time 3 young girls playing in a park is shown synchronised with the non diegetic sound of the single drum beat. The next few shots are the same, in terms of the editing fading to black after every shot and a single drum beat during each shot. The final shot of that particular scene is a

mid shot of a women talking about having nightmares. As the next shot begins non-diegetic sound changes to young girls singing a nursery rhyme, this makes the audience feel very uncomfortable, as they are singing in a slow rhythm with a high pitched voice, creating an eerie atmosphere. As the song is playing there is a mid-shot of a man, there is dimmed back lit lighting in the building creating a mysterious shadowy figure similar to the one we saw of Krueger earlier, this shot in particular makes the link between the mysterious shadowy character and Kruger. The next few shots are establishing shots of Elm Street, this reinforces the name of the film in the audience’s mind , this is a crucial business component of the trailer so that the audience remember the name of the product. The non diegetic sound of the young girls singing stops for a split second, replaced by diegetic sound of someone with a metal claw scratching against metal pipes whilst tailgating a woman, as the pipes are being scratched we identify that the person doing that is wearing a red and black jumper. It is also in the same location as the one we saw the mysterious shadowy figure. The audience will suddenly realise that the shadowy figure is Krueger himself coming back to haunt the street. A quick close up shot of the woman waking up screaming from a nightmare is shown, with the eerie non diegetic sound of the girls singing continuing. The following shot is a mid shot of two young girls about the age of 7 locked up in a cage, this shot making the audience even more uncomfortable with what’s going on, as young girls are not locked up in cages. There is then a funeral scene and we see a mid-shot of a child with a giant scratch across her chest, which the audience can instantly relate to Krueger’s claw, this is especially disturbing to the audience as this shot represents the corruption of innocence and childhood. It then cuts to a close up of a woman sleeping whilst taking a bath, with the same metal claw we saw in the trailer previously appearing from the water. She suddenly wakes up from the nightmare and the claw disappears. This along with the other woman waking up from her nightmare indicates to the audience that they are having the same nightmares with the same person in it and as we have established it Krueger. The next shot is a high angle shot a man shouting “Don’t fall asleep” to a woman, she then tortures herself to stop herself falling asleep, this just proving that something weird is happening in their dreams. All the next shots are montages, showing people running, hiding, screaming and being taunted by Krueger in their nightmares, mid shots of the freaky-shadowy figure of Krueger appearing every few shots during the montage. Fast paced editing is used for the montage, this builds up tension for the audience. The final shot starts with a high angle over the shoulder shot of a blonde woman crawling away from the Krueger who says, “There’s nothing to worry about, this wont hurt one bit.” A quick low angle glimpse of the Krueger is shown scratching the blonde woman with his metal claw. The shot ends with a scream by the woman and the words “Don’t fall asleep” appearing on screen. The quick shot we see of the Krueger shows he has a burnt face which tells the audience that it’s definitely Krueger, as we saw him burning to death earlier in the trailer. For most of the trailer natural lighting is used, however when the villain appears in nightmares the main source of light in the trailer is the moonlight emphasising the fact that they are having nightmares.

Production Company Logo

INSIDIOUS TRAILER When the trailer opens, the ‘Film District’ logo appears there is an eerie ‘boom’ noise that we hear as soon as the logo appears. The use of the logo of the production company, it is a very well known company, so it connotes to people that know the company that it will be very good. Also when the title ‘Insidious’ appears, there is an eerie sound played that goes with the way the text moves eg. goes from ‘Insidious’ to ‘Is’. Just after the trailer opens, the frame opens on a medium shot of a man sitting in a chair. Also there is a person asking him “are you ready?” The audience instantly gets the sense of a sort of exorcism or contact with spirits which is going to take place, we then see a metronome and it is used as a background beat to the first part of the trailer, the ticking continues as the screen changes to black to introduce the film, running in a steady rhythm throughout, creating an eerie sense. also the way it is used turns it from an innocent object into something, which generates fear towards the audience. a metronome is used as a background beat to the first part of the trailer. But the way it is used turns it from an innocent object into something, which generates fear towards the audience. We then get a shot of some text saying what else the makers of this film have done this reinforces to the people who like the films mentioned that this film will be just as good and to their liking. Then we see a shot of everyday family life, the lighting is bright connoting happiness this

Insidious is Insidious

Metronome

Makers of film Normal everyday family life

Repetition of Insidious is Insidious

Child in hospital Mother’s P.O.V Demon

relates to Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, as everything is normal, however it makes the audience tense because they know that something bad is obviously going to happen but they do not know when. We then see the young boy fall of a ladder, the lighting is darker and this contrasts to the brighter lighting connoting that something has gone wrong and this is where the drama will start to unfold, this is emphasised by the ‘insidious in insidious’ being repeated, this is a powerful technique as not only is the film title ambiguous but they have adapted the definition of Insidious to link to the definition of the film. There is a montage of shots when the child is in hospital. It begins with a close up of the distressed couple and then changes to an over-the-shoulder long shot of the child in the hospital bed. A hospital has connotations of death, pain and illness so seeing the couples gaze at their injured child can actually cause other people to emphasise with them as a parental instinct. We then cut to a wide shot of a rocking horse rocking backwards and forwards by its own accord, this suggests to the audience that there is a ghostly presence in the house. Insiduous is Insiduous then repeats again and we see a long shot of the boy going into his bedroom, there is emphasis on this and it adds a sense of enigma to the audience. We then hear something through the baby monitor showing a ghostly/evil presence this is very powerful, provoking the audiences emotions. To keep your children safe is a parental instinct, so to hear a supernatural voice coming through the speakers where the baby should be is absolutely terrifying.

We then see an eye-line pan when the mother is investigating the rooms as she senses a presence, the camera angle is from her perspective and the pan represents her head movement as she gazes at one room and then to another. This creates suspense as the audience can only see what the character is seeing so it puts you in her perspective and creates a creepy tension. We then see many fast shots of extreme close ups later to show the characters terrified facial expressions and also some of the costumes and make up of the demons, but the extreme close up as a very fast cut only leaves the viewer with a mental image of the demon actually looks like and this can vary on each viewers perception which then influences social interaction. At the very end of the trailer when the scary girl moves towards the camera there is a loud screech, then deadly silence which is terrifying for the audience.

Establishing shot

THE UNBORN TRAILER The trailer opens with an establishing shot, this cinematography shows the audience an isolated house, with woods surrounding it which show how alone the people in the house are. Also the lighting is very dark, this mise-en-scene creates a scary atmosphere for the audience. We then hear the diegetic sound of whispers coming from a baby monitor, however in a distorted voice which hides the identity and plays on the audience’s fear of the unknown. We then see an over the shoulder P.O.V shot from the main protagonist, this cinematography puts the audience in the protagonists position as if they are entering the room with her which creates a sense of fear, when we see the little boy leaning over the cot whispering, it connotes the child is mentally unstable and possibly possessed. This is also very unsettling and upsetting for the audience as this represents the corruption of innocence and childhood. The boy then says ‘he wants to be born now’ this relates to Freytag's Pyramid as it adds a sense of enigma as the audience ask themselves who wants to be born? There is then high-pitched non-diegetic sound followed by lots of jump cuts which creates a jarring effect, this sound and editing makes the audience feel very uncomfortable and puts them on edge. We then seethe logo of the production company, it is a very well known company, so it connotes to people that know the company that it will be very good. We then see a montage of the main protagonist

Baby monitor Boy leaning over cot

Jump cuts Production company

Shower scene

Extreme close-up of eye.

Scene with woman seeing herself sleep.

Exorcism scene

seeming as she is going about her normal everyday life, we see her running, in the shower which could be seen as quite sexualised and fits in with Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, however the lockers in the locker scene shows the setting is isolated. In the locker room it is also a paradigm of horror movies ,we see the protagonists friend ask ‘What’s wrong with your eye?’ and then we cut to an extreme close up of her pupil, this is integral to the plot and the colour change is very symbolic. When we see the scene when the woman is on the ceiling and watching herself sleep with the demon boy the atmosphere is completely silent which connotes an extremely eerie atmosphere which changes the pace and makes the audience feel very unstable also it uses a canted angle which also shows instability, alarm and a frantic atmosphere. We then get a shot of some text saying who the producer of the film is, he is a very well known Hollywood producer and this reinforces to the people who like his that this film will be just as good and to their liking. Also included in the trailer is an intertextual reference to ‘The Exorcist’ this is shown when an elderly man twists his head in a very awkward position, this shows postmodernism. We then see an exorcism scene, the exorcism equipment symbolises religion and the fear of evil. Throughout the exorcism scene we hear a high-pitched non-diegetic sound followed by lots of jump cuts which creates a jarring effect, this sound and editing makes the audience feel very uncomfortable and puts them on edge.