An analysis of the trailer for the film 'Catfish' .

1. ‘CATFISH’ TRAILER ANALYSIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuE98oeL-e0

2. CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS
• Documentary/“Mockumentary” style film has almost all
the camera shots being Point of View (POV) from the
cameramen (Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost).
• The majority of the shots throughout the trailer are
handheld.
• The majority of clips shown in the trailer are also medium,
close or extreme close up shots.
• Shots such as the one of Nev’s texts are from an angle as
if Nev is personally showing us or we are looking over to
them even though texts/messages are usually private as
if he ‘trusts’ us to show them – POV shot also reinforces
the idea that they are documenting all of Nev’s
relationship and that his phone is a big part of it.
• You never see Ariel or Henry except for when only one of
them is filming - The trailer centres completely on Nev.

3. CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS
• Uses the Facebook tag for Megan Faccio instead of
putting her name with simple text like Nev’s – Could
be to keep reinforcing this idea of a relationship
based around Facebook/technology.
• Using the Facebook tag may also be to reinforce the
idea of knowing Nev personally but only knowing
Megan through what her Facebook says.
• The top picture is another example of Nev with a
phone and suggests again that it is a major part of
his relationship – The scene is from Nev and Megan’s
first ‘real’ conversation.
• The text gives us a very brief summary of the context
of the film – They met on the internet – But doesn’t
tell us how/why.

4. CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS
• Showing ‘private’ messages again (like the ones on
Nev’s phone) to give us insight into their relationship
and feel like he is sharing personal/intimate
information with us.
• A lot of the first half of the trailer focuses on
Facebook – i.e. Nev looking through pictures,
messages, etc.
• The trailer plays audio of Nev saying says “I mean,
she must be pretty awesome… At least, from
Facebook…” showing that he doesn’t really know
anything else about her.
• While we call him ‘Nev’ (his nickname) to give it an
informal, friendly feel we always see ‘Megan Faccio’
(even on Nev’s phone) as if we aren’t really close
enough to know her as just ‘Megan’.

5. MISE-EN-SCENE
• During the first half of the trailer, Nev is always shown
with a phone or by a computer.
• Nev is also shown multiple times talking to Megan.
• He is always shown in casual clothes at home and at
his office – His job doesn’t need him to be in a
suit/smart clothes.
• Appears to be into creative arts shown by his guitar
and photography of the dance hall which mirrors
Megan’s apparent success in modelling, dancing,
singing, etc.
• In his office is a PC as well as a laptop. His office is also
fairly cluttered with a lot of files/stationary looking
disorganised – Suggests work is more based on
technology rather than other things.

6. MISE-EN-SCENE
• The clip of Nev laying in bed reading out texts between
him and Megan continues to support the idea of him
sharing everything about the relationship to his friends
and also the audience.
• Since Nev is in bed as he reads them out it links to the
texts since they are ‘intimate’ between him and Megan.
When they all start laughing it is possibly to keep the
audience feeling like Nev is sharing the information with
us as friends.
• The scene of Nev revealing the painting sent to him by
Abby shows how disorganised they are again by the
cluttered/untidy bookshelves.

7. MISE-EN-SCENE
• In the scene (pictured at the bottom) where Nev is
looking through Megan’s photos on Facebook, the mirror
behind him could suggest the contrast between them as
he would see the ‘real’ version of himself in the reflection
whereas, he only sees Megan through the pictures she
uploads.
• When they are photoshopped together it is technically
the ‘closest’ they have been together. Links with the
theme of no intimacy since both of them are not
wearing clothes.
• The top picture is a further example of Nev on the phone
with Megan and also is another scene with a mirror
behind him.

8. SOUND
• Music starts playing at 0:13 (‘This is Nev.’) as a bed
underneath other audio e.g. Nev talking about Megan
and her family.
• As the “Not based on a true story... Just True” text
screens appear, a click can be heard just like someone
clicking on it with a mouse.
• The music is non-diegetic and changes several times
throughout to mimic the mood of the scenes.
• The sound of the camera click when Nev is taking
photography of the dancers sounds non-diegetic
because it is heard much louder than the ‘natural’
sounds/bustle of the dance hall.

9. SOUND
• Majority of audio in the trailer is Nev talking about the
situation shown in the film (e.g. Megan, the family, his
relationship, etc.) but is not particularly well structured
i.e. It is mostly jumbled up/not linked.
• The clip of the person playing piano links with the sound
as it mimics the soundtrack change – The music
becomes slower and more tense/suspenseful to link with
the tension in the final scenes shown.
• The majority of the sound/audio shown is based around
the conversations between Nev, Ariel and Henry rather
than music or other non-diegetic sounds. This is possibly
because it is supposed to be a documentary-style film
and meant to be realistic.
• The audio quality changes randomly throughout the
trailer which again shows the realism when the audio is
only being recorded through the video cameras without
professional-quality sound recorders.

10. SOUND
• The mouse click sound is repeated throughout the trailer
and is made fairly loud - This is most likely to keep
reinforcing the idea of how much time Nev spends on
Facebook/his computer.
• Another reason the mouse click may be made loud is
that, because Nev is a photographer, his computer is
important for his work as well as his personal life/his
relationship.
• During Nev and Megan’s phone call it sounds as if the
audio is boosted because the phone beep sounds very
loud and so does her voice on loudspeaker – possibly to
accentuate the fact they’re on the phone.

11. EDITING
• The editing during the first part (the introduction to Nev
and Megan and their relationship) of the trailer is fairly
fast paced but upbeat, shown by the music. This could
be to mimic the start of Nev and Megan’s relationship
where it is new, happy, exciting, etc.
• The majority (if not all) of the edits are cuts throughout
the trailer.
• When showing clips of Facebook, it is always shown as
very pixelated – to look like a computer screen.
• It is always pixelated when showing any member of the
family – Possibly because Nev ever sees any of them
‘properly’ as the pixilation makes it hard to see what
they really look like.

12. EDITING
• When the music changes, the second part of the trailer
begins (the issue which is the unique selling point for the
film).
• Second part of the trailer goes more in-depth into
Megan’s character and her family – “… The Facebook
family, that’s what we’ll call them.”
• The reviews by other people all have the pixelated
background (like the clips of Facebook had) to link with
the rest of the trailer.
• The pixels could also be blue to link to Facebook.
• Since the trailer does not give a lot away about the
actual issue, the reviews don’t make a lot of sense but
indicate it is tense/thrilling.

13. EDITING
• The third and final part of the trailer is when they decide to go meet Megan in
person, the music changes once again to a slower, more tense piece.
• This section of the trailer begins normal – They suggest going to Megan’s farm to
meet her but don’t give away their reasons why, it is assumed that it is because Nev
finally wants to meet in person.
• As they drive into the farm, Nev seems nervous/uneasy and Ariel or Henry
comments “This place gives me the creeps…”
• This change marks a shift from the upbeat happy first section to make the audience
realise something isn’t right.
• Due to horror films like the Paranormal Activity series which consist of handheld and
set cameras in a documentary/’home movie’ style (like Catfish) the third section of
the trailer is specifically built to mimic that concept and the tension without giving
away the ‘monster’.
• The horror/thriller-esque conventions are also present in how most horror films begin
innocent or peaceful until an event happens that puts the main characters in the
place of danger.
• The edits are also put closer together (shorter clips) and the clips are usually ones
that do not show much – i.e. the extreme close up of the side of a video recorder
before cutting quickly to Nev sat in front of a computer with what looks like an
answerphone light blinking behind him.
• This is significant because this shows that, for the first time in the trailer, Nev has
ignored a phone call that may have been from Megan – contrasting directly with
the earlier section(s) where he is always on his phone with her or by his computer.