2. Overview
• Funny Games is a 2008 psychological
thriller.
• It is a shot-by-shot remake of the 1997
film of the same name (also by Haneke).
• Distributed by Warner Independent
Pictures.
3. Why did I choose Funny Games?
• My film is also a psychological
thriller, so I can learn of codes,
conventions, common shot types,
themes and motifs used in the genre.
4. Narrative
• The trailers narrative is clear: we as the viewer see a
family of three travelling in a car to a large house.
• The family appear happy as they settle into the
property.
• The family’s young son goes to the kitchen to tell his
mother there is someone outside.
• She lets the men in; they strike the father in the leg
with a golf club and take the family hostage in their
own home.
• They explain that they want to play a game and bet the
family that they’ll be dead by nine the next morning.
• After this, the trailer dissolves into faster clips showing
snippets of action rather than a linear sort of narrative.
5. Shot Types used in this Trailer
• Close-up
• Mid-shot
• Establishing shot
• Two-shot, three-shot, etc.
• Long shot
• Over-the-shoulder shot
• Birds eye view shot
13. Title Screen
• Title screen is in same style as the captions,
with the same colour scheme – keeps
continuity with the rest of the trailer.
14. Post Title Screen
• Again, in the same style as the captions.
• Provides additional information (director) and
a clever finishing caption.
15. Credits
• Two shots of credits.
• These break the red and black colour scheme – presumably
because they are not important to the canon of the film – this
is just extra information.
• Idents visible.
16. Cuts
• The cuts in this trailer are initially fade outs, to
reflect the calm mood. Shots are longer to
emphasise this. The fade outs also indicate
the passing of time.
• Shortly after the antagonists enter, cuts
become clean and rapid, emphasising the
action and violence.
17. Use of Ident
• The Warner Independent Pictures ident
appears ten seconds into the trailer, making
audiences aware of the films connection to
this company.
18. Use of Captions
• This trailer heavily features captions, the majority of which
are single, dramatic words used to reflect the action on
screen.
• The black and red colour scheme is equally
dramatic, connoting violence and danger.
• They appear during the intense action in the ‘second’ part of
the trailer.
19. Use of Colour
• In the calm beginning of the trailer, colours are bright and natural and it is
daytime.
• The house’s interior is, in parts, heavily white, connoting both innocence
and peace along with madness and illness (asylums, hospitals, etc.).
• When the antagonists arrive, the colours become dark, murky. There are
darker, more visible shadows. It appears to be night time outside – the
dark is, of course, feared by many, somewhat less appealing than brighter
colours and more ‘dangerous’ (nobody around, etc).
20. Costuming
• Whilst the family wear casual, ‘gender appropriate’ everyday
clothes in bright or neutral tones, the antagonists both wear
white (though, one is in black shorts).
• This visually separates the characters.
• Again, white has connotations of madness.
• White costumes may have been influenced by the film A
Clockwork Orange, which has a similar theme of violence.
21. Non Diagetic Sound - Music
• The song that plays until roughly 38 seconds in is
a calm, quietly uplifting piece of classical music –
despite looking, I have been unable to identify
the name of the song. This piece emphasises the
idyllic family life of the first part of the trailer.
• The second song is ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain
King’ written by Edvard Grieg. This music build
slowly along with the tension and becomes wild
and violent to accompany the action onscreen.
22. Diagetic Sound
• Dialogue and characters making sounds (e.g.
Crying, antagonist making a gun sound with
his mouth, cries of pain).
• Sound of impact when characters strike one
another (e.g. When antagonist hits the father
with a golf club).
• Gunshot towards the end of the trailer.
23. Representation
• All characters are white – none are from an
ethnic minority.
• Two young adult males, one male child, one
adult male and an adult female – uneven
gender representation, though there is a
variety of ages.
• Family appear to be well off in terms of money
(large car, large house). We are not made
aware of the antagonist’s backgrounds, but
they are well-spoken.
24. Review
• Ironic, heavy use of white.
• Quick cuts that compliment frequent titles.
• Starts slow and calm, then becomes
fast, tense and threatening – music reflects
this.
• No voiceover, just character dialogue.
• Reveals basic outline of plot.
