1. THE POSSESSION
Trailer analysis

2. PLOT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40
At the start of the possession trailer we follow a separated couple and how their daughters time is spent with each one of them. We follow
the child’s (Em, short for Emily) everyday life. From watching the first 18 seconds of this trailer, we get the perception that the dad likes to
be the favourite parent. He does everything the mother has pacifically told him not to do, for example order pizza. As the trailer
progresses we can see that the dad and Em have a good relationship. 24 seconds into the trailer Em and her dad go to a garage sale and
she buys an old box. When they take it home, weird movements from the box start to happen which intrigues Em, she later then opens it
and starts investigating the pieces inside. Em later starts acting reserved and starts to distance herself away from everyone. Her concerned
parents then start trying to understand why she is acting this way. Later on when they have dinner, Em starts to get angry stabbing away at
her plate and then goes for her dad. Her dad later makes the connection that her actions must have something to do with the box she
brought, so decides to take it to a priest in order to get answers. They warn him that she is slowly being taken over by and evil spirit and
they have to act fast in order to save her. After her actions get out of control and her behaviour starts to worsen and get more aggressive
they decide to seek medical help. After having am x-ray this is when they see that the spirit inside of her. Despite medical help and help
from the priest nothing seems to work and the evil spirit inside of her only seems to take her over more. At the end of the trailer we see
her mouth and fingers which look like they are coming out of her throat, this later conforms our suspicion she is being possessed. We are
not given any indication into whether she is saved/dies or carries on being possessed.

3. WHAT I ANALY SED
 There are 138 edits in the possession trailer
 There are 23 separate locations
 160 clips
 Quick pace of editing : About 56 seconds into the trailer we get a quick pace of
editing as Em deteriorates. At 1.14 we get more quick pace of editing as her actions become
more aggressive. At 1.42 when she is taken to the hospital and the spirit is effecting the
computers there is a quick pace of editing to show the disturbance and how much power
this spirit has. At 2.06 there is more quick pace of editing because it is showing how worse
she is getting and all the consequences of her actions. It is also to try and give the audience
snap shots of what’s to come without giving to much away.
 Characters: In the possession the main characters are the mum and dad of the girl and
the girl (Em) who is the victim.

4. OTHER FEATURES
At the end of the trailer it tells who presents the film. For example in this case it
says ‘Sam Raimi presents The Possession’
 The title is also shown at the end of the film purposely for effect. This is also
done so you have to watch the whole trailer to find out what the film is.
 Also at the end we get the name ‘Lionsgate’ and which other films they have
made. For example in this instance they have also made ‘Ghost House’ This
information is at the end of the trailer because it is not that relevant that it needs to
be at the front, the purpose of this being there is so people are able to relate to this.
Also if they liked Ghost House they may like The Possession as they are made by the
same company.

5. WHAT WE SEE/EXPECT
 The film The Possession is classed as a ‘supernatural horror film’
which was directed by Ole Bornadal. When we think of ‘Supernatural
horror films’ we expect the to be about ghosts and evil spirits.
Normally a church and a priest are featured in them as well. This
genre normally targets children as they are more vulnerable and this
makes it more scary.

6. HORROR CONVENTIONS
 Child (girl)
 Evil spirit
 Blood
 Wind
 Darkness
 Hospitals
 Church
 Priest
 Concerned parents
 Screams

7. HOW IT FITS THE GENRE
 From watching the trailer I can tell that ‘The possession’ fits some of the features we
expect to see in a supernatural horror film. A little girl is possessed by and evil spirit and
goes to see a priest, this fits our expectations that this film will feature a young child, that
a priest or a church will be included and that an evil spirit will feature. Also as Ems
behaviour starts to become more intensive there is a quick pace of editing to show us all
the things that are happening to her. This is done to scare us more because it is showing
us quickly all the different events that are happening to her, this also fits the expectations
of a horror film. When Em starts to be aggressive towards her mother, the lighting is very
dark, this tells us as an audience something bad is going to happen. When we see darkness
we expect something scary to happen and this is how this event also fits our expectations.

8. MIS-EN-SCENE
 At the start of the possession trailer the girl Em, that is the victim is dressed in
casual clothes, we can tell from this that she expresses her personality through her
clothes. When the evil spirit begins possessing her clothes become plain, which is
reflecting her effort in life. When Em becomes at her worst she is standing in the
middle of the road in a white nightie, her hair looks wet and straggly, these are all
typical conventions we expect when we think of ‘possession’ The fact that Em is
normally in white signifies her innocence and how she is just a normal girl at heart
but this has spirit inside of her has changed this. She also has a few grey outfits grey
signifies coldness.

9. SOUND
 At the start of the trailer the music seems almost like what you would
expect to hear at the beginning of a fairy-tale, this follows our equilibrium
for the story. Later when Em goes to the garage sale the spooky music
starts which immediately raises or suspicions which tells us something bad
is going to happen. When Em opens the box it sounds like a large heart
beating really loudly, this also raises our suspicions that something is going
to happen. We think this because when you heart races fast it can
represent that you are scared.