This is my full in depth trailer analysis of the film Annabelle for Media studies A2 courswork.

1. Annabelle

2. Genre
• This film is a horror film and this is shown by many iconic images such
as blood and dolls throughout this trailer, dolls are often things of
horror for most people as they feel that they are watching them and
this film portrays that exactly and that is often some peoples biggest
fears.
• Loud Diegetic screaming is heart often throughout the film trailer and
this adds to the effect of fear as it makes you feel uneasy when
watching, non-diegetic sounds in the background such as kids toys
playing also adds the direct area of the genre by involving children to
the horror which is unmasking at the scene of the film/trailer.

3. Narrative
• The father figure within this film buys a vintage doll, one night there house
attacked by a satanic cult who attack the family and they have now moved there
power within themselves and transformed it into the doll of ‘Annabelle’
• This doll then becomes an iconic image of the film as it is the main substance of
all that is to go wrong throughout the film whther it is death or jump scares which
are to occur the doll is to have some relevance to what happens.
• The Doll is to cause terror within the house and other objects within it break stuff
or in the case which is shown setting the house on fire by turning the stove on
and making something explode.
• Overall throughout the doll will cause misdirection when concentrating on a key
scene and will be the main image for disruption of a scene throughout

4. Unique selling point
• The film lasts for 2 minutes and 19 seconds and consists of around
95-100 shots, it was hard to gain a rough estimate as it was extremely
quick throughout.
• This film is shown to be by Warner brothers which is a large company
within the film industry so people may be attracted to the large logo
and think it must be a good watch if it is produce by a good producer.
• The film is a link to another horror film created called ‘The Conjuring’
and if people enjoyed that film and want to view something similar
then they may be drawn in to watch this film as it is a post film to the
one you have just watched and it may interested them.

5. Camera angles
• The first shot of the film trailer is an establishing shot of the area of
which the main action is going to take place, it shows the home of
which the owners of the doll are. This is often used at the start of
horror films to show where the action is going to take place.

6. Camera angles
• This medium long shot of the family which is going to be shown
through the film is showing that they are in the comfort of there own
home where the horror is going to take place, this image is also iconic
as it is the first real image of when we get to see the doll which is
‘Annabelle’.

7. Camera angles
• This medium shot is important as it shows the horror aspect and
brings a horrific few onto things to come with the sight of blood and
the doll raped in the dead women's arms. It slowly zooms in the has a
picture of the dolls face showing its expressionless face as blood drips
into the eye. This is a extremely good shot as it shows of things yet to
come.

8. Camera angles
• This is the final shot of the film trailer. It is close up on the doll
‘Annabelle’ rocking back and forth in the chair looking into the
camera. This is an extremely effective shot as it looks deep into you
and creates a sense of fear

9. Target audience
• The target audience can be varied from around late teens such as 16
– 30 years old, but id say concluding from the age of the actors the
target audience would be based around 21 – 27 as that seem the age
of the two main actors as a young couple. I do believe it does target a
younger audience than this because of the added effect with the doll
and this could be seen as a younger audience pleaser.
• I believe that the trailer has done an excellent job of targeting the
audience by playing with the viewers emotions and making them feel
apart of the horror which is undertaking during the film.

10. Relationship between characters
There is a clear relationship going on between the main female and
male character, they seem to have a strong bonded relationship and
could possibly be married. They have a child which is also shown
further on through the film trailer and shows there love for each other.
As the trailer goes on trust starts to be twisted and broken as the doll
starts to play on there minds and tries to bring them apart.
The Doll plays a strong roll of attaching itself to the mother as if it is
reliant on her, the mother is not fond of it but it never seems to leave
her side, this relationship is not one which she wants but one she is
almost forced into.

11. Mise-en-scene
• The mise-en-scene of the film is one based on a average house within
America and you would not expect much of the people inside, seem like a
normal family and the lighting indicates a happy vibe at the start.
• As the film goes on the lighting takes a darker turn to it showing that things
are turning for the worst and that its only going to get darker and harder
for them to cope.
• The use of blood and clothingsuggests that it is based quite within the
1950’s +
• I have done some further research and found out that the film was based
within the year 1969 and that would explain the clothing on the dolls being
quite poorly fabricated and the colour.

12. Music/mood
• The music starts of firstly quite cheerful and quite peaceful this stays
at this pace until the night of the disturbance next door. This gives a
calming mood and shows they are a regular family and nothing bad
has happened to them. With the hearing of screaming next door then
people entering the house the non-diegetic soundtrack then takes a
turn into a darker scene with it becoming more disturbing and harder
to listen to with it almost buzzing in your ear making the mood
extremely uneasy. It stays like this until the last scene where the doll
is in the rocking chair then the use of diegetic sound of a music box
being played is used to make an eerie atmosphere and it created this
extremely well as I found it very hard to watch as it was disturbing to
look and listen to.

13. Pace
• The pace of the trailer is quite fast as it has a range of 95 – 100 shots
in, the montage is extremely quick in this sometimes fitting five shots
into the space of two seconds making the scene seem extremely
disturbing and flashy creating a long lasting effect on you the viewer.
The start of the trailer is quite slow but still has a rather quick pace to
it making it seem that anything could happen, keeping you on edge.
There is a soft break before a quick montage often the pace will slow
down for a more dramatic breakdown of a few clips which are
upcoming making you more anxious of what is about to happen.

14. Dialogue
• There is quite a lot of diegetic dialogue within this trailer and it is used to good effect creating
eerie and often a good narrative when reading through it.
• ‘I like your doll’
• ‘You survives… what is there left to be scared of’
• ‘she fits right in’
• Something is happening we cant explain’
• ‘what you are experiencing is not ghosts’
• ‘demons can attach themselves to objects’
• ‘what do I do?’
• ‘Who are you?’
• These are all very important quotes which I have been able to pull from the trailer and have a
huge impact on the viewers emotions and help you interact you to the film and create a large
interest for what could happen next. Questions given such as ‘who are you’ and ‘what do I do?’
make you want to watch on and see what happens creating a stronger code of enigma.

15. Special effects
• There are a lot of special effects used in this mainly effects such as
fading to black, blurring and flashing. These all create a great effect
on the view focusing in on something and then being shocked by
something else which comes out when blurring is used and fading to
black is often use to deteriorate a scene where a quick montage has
been so showing the darkness is like a no escape area. The quick
flashing on the scene is to make a lasting memory for the view. These
special effects are extremely effective as a viewer and makes you
want to watch more.

16. Credits and intertitles
• ‘From producer James Wan’
• ‘Before The Conjuring’
• ‘There was Annabelle’
• ‘ANNABELLE’
• ‘Warner brothers’
• ‘Newline cinema’

17. Code of enigma…
• There are many questions which this film leaves you with such as…
• Who are the people who first come in the house and attack the
family?
• What happens to the doll?
• What happens to the family?
• What happens to the kid?
• These are all extremely big questions which I found when watching
the trailer and drawn me in to try and find out more.

18. Film Trailers
• Film trailers are excellent promotional devices as they interact with
you and you can gain an emotional bond with the viewer as they may
be able to relate to someone within the film and share emotions with
what they are seeing by past experiences.
• Compared to posters they are extremely effective as it shows
important rolls within the film and characters and more of a story line
which draws in the viewer more effectively than a still image.