Monday, 14 December 2009

House Of Wax

House of Wax was made in 2005 and was released on May 6th. It is a slasher film involving teenagers and starring the controversial Paris Hilton. It isn't classed as one of the best horror films but its trailer is well worth analysing as we could include many aspects from it in ours.

It begins with the logos of the companies making the film accompanied by the non diegetic music. It sounds upbeat and music which would attract young people. The first shot is of the moon with clouds passing over it with the continued non diegetic music. It then cuts to a darkened scene and two cars are seen driving. You can only see the cars due to the headlights and you can straight away decide that they may be in the middle of no where. The scene cuts to inside the cars as they talk to each other about being lost and that they should set up camp. They use medium shots to show the conversation between the two. A title appears stating saying :' Six friends are lost '. This is a c title as this would be a horrible situation for many people therefore many people can relate to it. A slick sound effect is used to disturb the audience further. It cuts back to the cars and a character looks at the GPS system and says this place isn't on the Satellite navigation system. This shows that they are in a secluded area and this is again like many other horror trailers, clichéd which has been used over and over again. To make what the character said even more chilling, a title appears saying : In a place not on any map. This use of title is very good and we can learn from this. If we can devise a few quality titles and place them at correct time in the trailer, there effect could be brilliant.

The scene then changes to daytime and a long shot is used to show characters walking into a deserted town. Dialogue is used by one of the characters to describe that the town is deserted and no one is to be seen. The next shot is clever as it is a Point of view of someone looking out through a window. This is really where the audience can decide that this is a horror trailer as this is a genre indicator. The characters continue to walk through the town until they reach a museum named the House of Wax. Due to the name of the film the audience can decide that this museum is going to be a key location in the film. In every horror film the audience are always thinking don't go into that dark room or deserted museum and one of the characters even warns him before he enters.

Inside the museum the character is shown, using medium shots, to be astounded by the wax models inside. The shots fade out into blackness, then the next shot is shown. This is a clever transition as it disorientates the audience. Suddenley the Non diegetic music dies down and quietness is replaced making the audience expect to be made jump. The only noise you can hear is creaking of floorboards plus the shot is out of focus, so you can't see where the little lights are coming from. A girls voice says : I heard something and then a man is shown screaming and the non diegetic music returns much quicker and louder. Also the noise of a knife being pulled out from somewhere is heard followed by screams. It then cuts to shots of this girl breathing loudly and a light flashes across her face revealing tears. Another girl is then shown in the middle of the street currently in the dark. Then with loud screams everything around her lights up. The houses and the shops are all now alight and more screams can be heard.

Following this a montage of shots are used including someone falling through glass and a dirty looking hand holding a knife. We are looking to use a shot of someone holding a weapon and we may use a similar shot to this. People are chased and a wax models eyes move which looks very creepy. Also the killer is not shown properly and makes the audience guess what he looks like and why he is chasing these poor teenagers.

Right near the end of the trailer a horrific scene is shown. A title flashes up saying : There's a reason why they look so real. Then a man is shown chained up and about to be made into a wax model. This is very frightening and the music adds to the suspense. Then the name of the film comes up which is made of wax. By ending with that horrible scene it makes the audience want to see what is wrong with the people in that 'deserted' town.

The actors and actresses used were chosen for a reason. To reach out to the teenage audience the makers chose young people to play in the film so that the people watching can relate to it better and put themselves in there shoes. If we were making our trailer into a feature length film we would need to think very carefully about what kind of people we would choose. Overall what we can take from this trailer is the clever use of actors and the superb timing of the titles. We need to think what there going to say and when they're going to be used.

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