2. Dead Snow is a Horror-Comedy about un-dead Nazi
zombies in the snowy mountains of Norway.
The trailer tells us it is a horror-comedy by combining
elements of both horror and comedy.
The trailer starts off with a group of teenagers undergoing
recreational activities on the mountains. Around the 28
second mark the trailer’s mood changes to a more serious
note, as it shows an older male character warning the
teenagers about how in the past the area was used by Nazi
SS Troops and how they tortured and otherwise
ill-treated people everyday. One of the group of teenagers
finds a Nazi box of treasures. We then see strange things happening in the
woods and then Nazi’s emerging from the snow. After that we mainly see a
montage of horror moments involving the zombies.
3. Starts off with view of snow-covered mountains, acquainting us with the setting of the film. It as if everything on
screen is shot in a style which makes you feel as though you’re actually there, as if it is being shot free hand, like its
being filmed by a bunch of teenagers rather than by professional cameramen filming a movie. The old man in the
scene where he warns the teenagers is wearing a dull jumper and the setting is also dull and dismal-sort of like a dull
nineties style setting. In the middle of the trailer as the mood is changing we see clips of the Nazis and World War
II, this allows us to see what the man is saying visually so we can see and understand what he is saying. We then cut to
one of the teenage boys finding a Nazi treasure chest. Again it is filmed in a way that makes us as the audience feel as if
we are actually there. The boy’s face lights up gold when he opens the chest to build audience expense as they are
compelled to find out what is in the chest. It then cuts to a close up, and then another and then of another, of three of
the teenage girl’s terrified faces, changing the mood to a definite horror, as the audience is anxious to find what they’re
afraid of. We then see the trees in the woods. It’s dark creating a scary and tense atmosphere, followed by the Nazi
zombies emerging from the ground. The trailer also willy shows the comical sight of the group of teenagers huddled up
with a only a couple of weapons, looking terrified and pathetic , this also adds a comic atmosphere to the
trailer, showing that it is a comedy horror. It shows a montage of shots of the group being attacked, filming in a way to
show the horror element but also creating a comic atmosphere, followed by a shot of one of the teenagers saying’ You
know what we have to do’. The we then see the teenagers arming them selves with comical sound effects going on a they
pick their weapons and going to fight the zombies, which stampede them to the sound of Ode to Joy, creating an
intensely comical atmosphere. The trailer then meets a climax as we see a montage of powerful shots with lots of
emphasis on the film. The trailer ends with a shot of one of the teenagers exclaiming ‘We should have gone to the
beach like I told you1” leaving the audience in a comical ‘laughed up mood’.
4. The first sound we hear is the verbal dialogue of two girls cheering the
boys on as they snow ski down a series of mountains. This is followed
by light-hearted rock music as they undergo recreational activities The
music is suddenly shut down with a creepy sound. The creepy film
score then starts playing as the trailer cuts from the man speaking to a
montage of short clips from World War II. When one of the teenage
boys finds a Nazi treasure box a sharp deep sound of a horn ends the
score, and starts off a very fast, heavy beat-tension increasing as the
tempo of the score increases. The beat and tempo jumps up when the
Nazi zombies emerge from the ground for the first time. The music
stops as the Nazi general emerges from the trees. The play the very
cheerful hymn ‘Ode to Joy’ when the zombies are attacking, creating a
comical contrast between horror and cheerfulness. We hear ‘cheesy’
sound effects as the protagonists arm themselves with weapons, sounds
like ‘whoop’ and ‘whoosh’ like the sound effects heard in cartoons.
5. At the beginning of the trailer the pace is moderate, cutting
from shot to shot to show us the setting. The shots then
begin to change increasingly faster as we see a montage of
shots piled on one another of the teenagers in the movie
living immorally on their ski trip. The speedy cuts suddenly
stop on one shot when the teenagers are startled and the
shot cuts to older man talking. There is then a shot reverse
shot when it cuts from him to the teenagers. It then makes
jump cuts from clips of World War II to make what the
man is saying in the background visual. It then continues
to cut from shot to shot to build up the picture of the
trailer.
