This is my textual analysis task.

1. Textual Analysis
By Josh Shelley
I will be analysis the trailer for the film 'Split'. Unfortunately,
there is no teaser trailer for this film, so instead I am analsying
the full theatrical trailer.

3. The character is bending down into his boot. Despite, this
being for practical continuity purposes, it also places this
character below the character (unseen) walking towards him.
This suggests that he is inferior to the other character and is
less powerful. This with his confused facial expression creates
anxiety for the audience as they are unsure of who this more
powerful, superior character is.
The high key 'natural' lighting
juxtaposes the non diegetic
music and anxiety caused by
other elements of misè on
scene etc. This is not a typical
convention of a psychological
thriller as it would normally be
in a dark and enclosed space.
However, this also
emphasises the other aspects
that suggest the film is a
horror/psychological thriller.
The non diegetic music is high
pitched and has a fairly slow
tempo. It has the horror feel to
the music and creates tension
and fear within the audience.
The music is similar to music
that could be associated with a
scary clown. Moreover, it
further suggests that
something bad will happen as
it has that eerie sense. When
combined with other technical
elements, it creates a level of
fear and immediately
emphasises the genre
to the audience.

4. This scene is in a car. The characters are in
a dark and cramped condition. This
suggests a thriller genre as it is a typical
convention of this genre. I established this
from my genre research.
The male character is wearing a mask, this
gives a clinical feel. This feel combined
with the darkness suggests a horror
thriller. Moreover, it creates tension for
the audience and makes the fearful.
Because you can't see the females face, it
disconnects you from her emotions and thus
sympathising with her. This manipulates the
audience so that they focus on the fear and
makes them feel frightened and have a
heightened awareness.
The camera has neither a
high or low angle tilt.
However, it has an over the
shoulder shot with a direct
eye level shot. This means
you are looking into the eyes
of the male character and
exacerbates the fear.
The sound has both diegetic
and non diegetic elements. I
will speak about the non
diegetic music. When the
male character attacks the
females the music suddenly
changes tempo, pitch and
volume. This shocks the
audience and attracts their
full attention. The music also
has a similar style to horror
music.

5. The scene shows the ceiling of
where the female characters are
being held hostage. The paint is
wearing which is suggestive that the
building is not cared for and
abandoned. Moreover, the lack of
safety around the wires (i.e.
insulating cages) suggest that the
building is old as it would not meet
current health and safety
requirements. This reinforces that
fact that the building may be
abandoned.
The camera has a high angle tilt.
This implies that as the viewer
you are looking up and are
therefore inferior. This increases
the fear in the audience as they
feel the 'horror' is more powerful
and thus superior to them.
It is not a well lit scene and has
low key lighting. This suggests
that it underground otherwise
there would be natural light. This
idea is reinforced by the misè on
scene. There are no windows
present in the scene and thus
support this idea.

6. In this scene, the male character is wearing a completely
set of new clothes. He is presented as successful which
contradicts the previous scenes. Moreover, as his clothes
contradict each other and thus his personalities
contradict it suggests that he has multiple personalities.
Furthermore, it explains some of the plot by showing
the fact that he has multiple personality disorder.
The male character is always wearing glasses, which is
his distinguishing feature so that the audience recognise
the character even when he switches his personality and
clothes. The identification of the character even when
he change clothes/ personalities confirms the idea that
he has multiple personality disorder.
This scene has a high angle
tilt which suggest he is
powerful and superior. This
idea is continuously
referenced to throughout the
trailer by use of camera
movements/shots. As the
girls have just been seen in
the same room, it suggests
he has dominance over
them.

7. His stance is similar to one where you shoot a gun.
Although from the scene it is clear he is drilling, the
connotation to firing a gun is shown and thus suggests
violence and horror. This reinforces the genre.
Again the idea that it is
a horror/psychological
genre is strengthened by the
darkness and cramped
conditions. There is poor
lighting (low key) and no
windows which is again
suggestive that it is
underground.
The extreme long shot shows a long corridor. The walls are
not decorated and are flaking with old paint. There are no
pictures along the corridor or anything to look at. This forces
the audiences attention to be on the male character and the
lack of detail raises curiosity and manipulates the audience to
want to see the rest of them film so they gain a deeper
understanding of what is happening.
There is diegetic sounds in
this scene. It is a girl
screaming and banging on
the door. She is begging to
be let out. As she is begging,
it suggests the male character
has more powerful than her.
The desperation also
suggests she is trapped. It
indicates that the genre is a
horror thriller.

8. The black background and
white text contrasting may be
a link to the main male
characters contrasting
personalities. Moreover, the
writing which it all staggered
and broken up is a visual
effect and could also
represent his broken
mentality. It also reflects the
title due to the
reason above.
From my research, I found it is normal for trailers to
features other films which have been directed by the
director with similar genres. If at this point the
audience are still unsure of the genre, the other film
titles should suggest to them what it is. Furtherstill, if
the audience likes the other film they are more likely to
go see the new film as they trust the director.

9. The gentleman's voice is calm and is contrasting to the
horror thriller genre. He appears quite concerned for
the girls despite the fact that he is the one keeping them
hostage. This sound is diegetic. Further to this, he says
'he listens to me'. This builds on the psychological
thriller genre as it is creepy as he is referring to
controlling himself and talks about himself from
another 'character's' perspective.
Further to this, there is a non diegetic ticking in the
music which exponentially increases in speed. This
heightens the tension and makes the audience aware
that something bad is going to happen. The speed of
the ticking contradicts his calming voice creating a
sense of confusion to the audience as they believe that
danger is imminent and yet are being led to believe
otherwise. This confusion is a typical convention of a
Red is often associated with
danger. Therefore, it is
expected the audience will
link danger with this
character due to his red
jumper. Again, it leads to a
sense of confusion as he
appears calm and talks in a
soothing voice. The audience
do not know which to believe
and thus it makes them want
to watch the whole film so
they can come to a
conclusion.

10. The male character is holding flower he has, presumably, purchased
from a florist, which we can see in the background. This shows that he
can blend in with society and that he appears normal to the
outside. The flowers contrast his personalities as flowers are
sweet where as he could be described as a 'monster'. This
contrast exaggerates his evil personality. This is a typical convention of
a psychological thriller as he can fit in within society.
This scene has high key
lighting compared to the low
key lighting in other
scenes. This
suggests that he is not in the
building the females
are being held in. This is
further suggested as the
building appears in excellent
condition and there are
other characters in the
building.

11. The light is in a metal case and is
shiny. As the light is only visible
for a few seconds, the audience
don’t have time to focus on the
object. Therefore, it may appear
as a knife and have connotations
to violence. Further to this, the
??? depth of field means the
light case is unfocused
and thus makes it harder for the
audience to correctly identify the
object meaning it appears as
a knife.
The low key lighting amplifies
the scariness and fear that the
audience feel. Darkness makes
everything seem worse than it is
so therefore having the
desired effect as per above.
The drawing shows a dark monster scaring small people below him.
This is representing a childhood fear. The representation of the small
characters against the monster show they are scared and feel inferior to
the powerful monster. The mid-close up forces the audience to focus
on the picture.

12. Summary Analysis
• The genre is conveyed throughout the full theatrical trailer. There are several elements which suggest the
horror/psychological thriller genre. I have shown these point above. Throughout the trailer, it references
other films which the director wrote/directed with a similar genre.
• The trailer has a length of 2 minutes 30 seconds. This is because it is a full theatrical trailer and not a teaser
trailer. A typical teaser trailer would be 90 seconds or less. In our teaser trailer, it will be less than 90 seconds.
• It leaves the audience with lots of questions and creates enigma. They are left with parts of the storyline and
thus wanting to know what happens in between and the end of the film. This is typical of a trailer although a
teaser trailer would give a lot less information about the plot. Moreover, when we assemble our teaser trailer
we will aim to create enigma and partially reveal the plot so that the audience are still left wondering.
• Its unique selling point is the fact that the main male character has multiple personalities and that it has two
sub genres which are both equally dominant.

13. Summary Analysis Continued
I believe we should take several key elements from this trailer. I will list each one and then explain why in
the list below:
• Length - We will not make our trailer 2 minutes 30 as that is not the typical length of a teaser trailer.
• We will include lots of darkness and low key lighting this is because it amplifies the effects produced
from the other technical elements.
• We will also include a release date and other key information such as the title of the film etc.