1. Trailer
Deconstruction
By Laura Ireland

2. The opening of the trailer begins with a slow pace to help
set up the films basic narrative. We can hear a gentle non-
digetic soundtrack being played in the background, over an
over the shoulder shot of the films main female character
talking. Through her opening lines of, “why can‟t I
remember what happened that night?” the audience is
immediately introduced to feelings of confusion and the
sense that something bad and ominous is going to happen.

3. This then cuts to a medium close-up shot of a lantern falling to the
floor and smashing. As the lantern is seen smashing, the audience
hears the enhanced sound of the glass within it breaking, before
the light is extinguished. This is reflective of the protagonists
feeling of a broken home as her world has come crashing down
leaving her in this state of confusion and obscurity. Some
questions as to why she is in this emotional state, are answered in
the next shot where the trailer cuts to a medium action shot of a
house on fire. This accompanied with a further enhanced digetic
sound of an explosion, complements the scene which can be seen
happening on screen.

4. The girl is shown talking to what is presumed to be a psychiatrist in a
mental institution, as enhanced through the use of a tracking shot of her
legs running down a long corridor before being followed by the use of
an eagle eye shot with her exiting the building. The psychiatrist is then
seen stating, “You lost your mother in a fire, maybe it isn‟t such a bad
thing to forget. Go home. You‟ll figure it out.” The use of slow paced
editing here allows the audience to fully appreciate the death of this
girl‟s mother and gain some idea of the films background and an outline
of the trailers basic narrative. The audience feels empathy for the films
protagonist and is able to understand her confused emotional state. The
vulnerability of her persona and fragile mind state is conventional seen
with he psychological thriller genre.

5. The non-digetic melody heard at the start of the trailer is once again
introduced as a bird‟s eye shot is shown of the trailers protagonist
running from the psychiatric institute. This is continued as a car is
shown driving to a lake house and the protagonist is reunited with her
sister „Alex.‟
In relation to Freytag‟s theory the complication of the trailer comes in
the form of, “dad‟s new girlfriend.”
Through the introduction of this character to mood of the entire trailer
changes and darkens. The light and calming non-digetic soundtrack
previously played changes and becomes a low and eerie humming
noise. This automatically indicates some negative and evil association
this woman carries.

6. In the next shot we cut to scene of a funeral service, with
Rachel‟s character bending over to lay a rose over the coffin. As
she is seen doing so a sharp noise is introduced with the presence
of a ghostly little girl shown behind her. The use of a slow
motion and an edited shadowy, almost echoed effect, duplicates
Rachel's figure adding a supernatural feel to her persona. The
following shots then quickly flash with an edited negative effect
placed over the shots of the little girl. An ominous and
foreboding feel is created through the aligning of these two
characters as the little girl is shown appearing from behind
Rachel‟s character linking her to this supernatural and evil.

7. After the heavy non-digetic sound of a drum beat in conjunction
with a text screen the audience is shown that the film was produced
by the creators of „The Ring‟ and „Disturbia.‟ The topography of this
text is written in a simplistic black Ariel font making it clearly
visible against its clouded background. The centrally positioned text
against the dimly filter clouds creates a sense of pathetic fallacy and
foreboding for the rest of the trailer. This foreboding is also crated
through the films mentioned in the text as they are recognise to be
darker genres of film. This therefore allows the audience to relate to
these works in comparison to this one.
The shift in the trailer comes just
before this point through the presence
of the ghostly figures of the children,
therefore, suggesting ominous and
dark things are going to happen
from this point.

8. The introduction of another character stating to the
protagonists father, “your daughter has got it into her
mind somehow that your fiancé killed the family she
worked for,” confirms the audience preconceived
ideas of Rachel‟s character murdering the children
seen in the graveyard. This idea is then physically
reflected through the images of the children alongside
a murder report on a computer screen.

9. The trailer then cuts to a low angled shot of the films protagonist
and her sister looking up a murder report on a computer. This is then
followed by a sequence of short quick cuts accompanied by a violent
stabbing noise. The shots include images of the little girl in the
previous shots, a knife and newspaper articles. The inclusion of the
shot with the little girl allows the audience to relate to the previous
shot of her in the grave yard, making a connection between her
persona and cause of death.
This is then followed by a silent black out, creating a high point of
tension for the audience as they link these murders with Rachel‟s
character.

10. From this point on we see Rachel‟s persona positioned in a
state of superiority over the Anna‟s character, as shown
through the use of a low angled shot of her standing upon a
hill top.
The following shots of her character pulling a pearl necklace
around the protagonists neck while sating, “You know what
Anna? I don‟t think this is going to work out,” is particularly
indicative of physiological thriller genre.

11. As we enter the climax of the trailer, a non-digetic sound
track of heavily beating drums is played over quick cuts
of the film. This is juxtaposed with flashing white shots
of light, successfully building tension and creating
suspense through the audience. This is as these flashing
quick cuts create obscurity and build confusion for the
audience as well as reflecting the feeling of the films
protagonist.

12. As we cut to a shot of the little girl, we see her drop a
glass of milk which just as before in the previous shots of
the lantern and glass ball, we see it smashing to the
ground. In contrast to this however, the milk turns into
vivid red blood. This red colour imagery can be seen
throughout the trailer and is highly effective in portraying
the films genre. This is as the colour red has strong
connotations of the gothic and death therefore,
successfully establishing the physiological thriller genre
of the film.
After this point, the trailer
suddenly becomes silent
apart from the sound of the
protagonists heavy breathing.

13. This is then finished with a medium close-up shot of the films
protagonist covered in blood with an obscured figures hand
reaching out to grab her. A shorter sequence of shots follows this,
including images of an eye peering through a key hole and
„Anna‟ screaming. This screaming is carried on over the shots to
give a frightful and hard hitting ending to the trailer before it is
silenced by the films title appearing on screen. The title of the
film is written in the same topography as the other text
interjections throughout the trailer, placed against the same dim
clouded background.

14. The trailer concludes on a medium close-up shot of a bleeding
key hole. The use of a zoom takes the audience close to the
answer of whose blood it is before fading to black. This shot in
juxtaposition with the previous shot of an eye looking through
a key hole may hold some answers for the audience
however, this is not fully confirmed in the trailer. As a result of
this withholding of information, the audience are left with a
narrative enigma and intrigued to find out more.