TRAILER ANALYSISTHE LORDS OF SALEM

CHARACTER TYPES

• Protagonist:- - Heidi. Vulnerable victim/damsel in distress.

•Antagonists:- -Lacy, Judy & Sonny Three malicious, conniving witches who attempt to sacrifice Heidi.

•Helper:- - Herman. Heidi’s best friend who attempts to save her from the situation.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURES • Part One: - Equilibrium.

Narrative introduces Heidi’s normal life, living in apartment and working at radio station. Hints of threat are foreshadowed in ‘flash’ of nightmarish dream and theme of mystery tenant living in Room No. 5. Owners of flat are also implied as suspicious. Very low atmospheric music is played, further implying sense of danger and heightening tension.

• Part Two:- The DisruptionDisruption is illustrated through dialogue ‘There is no person living in number 5’. This is followed by montage shots of Heidi being tortured and possessed in her sleep unknowingly, the voiceover narration emphasises the disruption with ‘There is a war waging in heaven’. This is reflected within the montage shots with imagery such as satanic ritual and religious iconography. Heidi’s vulnerable mental state is made known during these fast paced montage shots through her manipulation. The three antagonists are quoted through dialogue to hint at main themes of storyline, particularly the intention of Heidi’s sacrifice for Salem witch rituals. Throughout this part, fast paced and intense drumming music is played, along with disturbing diegetic sound effects such as screams and scratches, demonic sounds implicating possession.

• Part Three:- The postmodern ambiguity of the trailer challenges conventional aspects. Opposing the three part narrative structure, rather than hinting at an attempt to ‘fix’ the disruption, the trailer ends negatively having shown glimpses of Heidi’s sacrifice. The voice over narration of ‘god does not spare angels when they sin’, gives a finality to the overall tension build, yet hints that there lacks a resolution. Almost as if the end of the trailer itself is a cliff hanger, having not unveiled the resolution and complete narrative, this attracts the audience to want to see the film. Due to this, the fast paced intense music cuts at the ending titles, and is then followed by the films significant eerie and cult-like soundtrack, as an old woman/witch appears in the final scene speaking sinisterly, the simplistic dialogue of ‘welcome’.

MISE-EN-SCENE

• The dramatically artistic use of the fast paced cinematography elements complements the theatricality of the mise-en-scene locations and costume. This is illustrated as even within Heidi’s normal apartment, dramatic artworks are featured as well as dark and gothic decor as well as in colour scheme. (Dark wallpaper, dark flooring, and dark furniture). The gothic interior is reflected with even more emphasis towards the end of the trailer in the theatre.

• Heidi’s most significant costume featured within the trailer is her black and white striped jumper, the skeletal face paint and dreadlocks. This is iconic within Rob Zombie’s and the film’s fan base and is now largely used within cos-playing and photographical projects. She is first seen wearing this outfit in the richly lit theatre (of golds and reds), so her rather gray scale colour scheme of black and white contrasts this.

• While the beginning of the trailer uses some natural lighting, reflecting the time of equilibrium. Most of the trailer is filmed in low key lighting, or dramatic light against dark (such as in the theatre). This heightens the sense of threat as a much darker and more sinister evil (satan & the salem witches), as oppose to a human threat.

• Rob Zombie has included a lot of satanic ritual and religious iconography to reflect the films main themes. Whenever the church is featured within the trailer, the immediate following scene will feature satanic or cult-like ritual imagery such as Heidi’s scenes of torture. This direct juxtaposition reflects traditional conventions of good against evil .

EDITING & SOUND

• Regarding editing, Rob Zombie has gone for the postmodern dramatic effect of using a lot of montage scenes. The overuse of this aspect is effective due to the overall fast paced tension maintained throughout the entire trailer. Due to the intention of this effect, standard edit cuts are used throughout the entire trailer. However at the beginning which reflects the equilibrium, and where the pace is slow to build up tension, graduated fades are used multiple times.

• The title cards used stick to the colour scheme of black and white, yet have a scratchy textured black background. The example used in the second image, is a particular example of a selling point. Although Rob Zombie –as a director and artist – has a large fan base, it is rather niche. So by including the factor of stating two successful horror movies by the same producers, this will attract a broader audience.

• A lot of the sound within the trailer is non-diegetic, the fast paced intense drumming music combined with the disturbing non-diegetics of torture sounds, pigs squealing, crows hawking and sound effects which resemble sounds of possession, creates an overall uneasy feeling and reflects the manipulation of Heidi perfectly. Most of these sounds are somewhat onomatopoeic, for example the high pitched sharp sound which occurs as the knife/surgical utensils are visible on screen.

• The significance of the music at the very end of the trailer (which begins at the end movie title card), is that it is the sound of the record – given to Heidi - which is an important item to the storyline. The sinister and uneasy atmosphere it creates is emphasised by the narration card which reads ‘we’ve been waiting’.