An analysis of the film trailer Hatchet

1. Film Trailer Analysis
Hatchet
At the start of the trailer we hear some music played on a piano that could be described as ‘creepy’
or ‘mysterious’. This music sets us up for the idea that something is going to happen. While this
music plays, we see an establishing shot of a river, with surrounding trees. This shot is extremely
dark, a key convention of horror film trailers. We then hear the voice of a young girl, she speaks as is
she is telling a story starting the speaking off with ‘once upon a time’ making the film trailer seem
like a story. We are shown three images of the main character, Victor, as a sound effect of camera
shots are shown. The images are fast, realistic and shocking. This introduces us to the character that
we do not see much else in the trailer. The moon is shown, surrounded by black sky. The moon then
turns red, this links to the fire that is in the story, and it also shows a link the story changing, and
getting bad. When we are shown Victors father holding a hatchet and putting in into the door. There
is a sound effect that sounds like a distorted, unhumanised scream for help. This links to the fact
that Victor is not seen as a human by people. A point of view shot is used when Victor is running
through the trees, this allows us to see the reaction of a man who, when he sees Victor, screams and
falls to the floor. We see an establishing shot of the river, surrounded by trees, in darkness, this
image then slowly turns to red, allowing the audience to understand that the story will be bad and
goory. We are then shown cuts of bad things that happen in the film, this gives the audience an idea
on what kind of murders taking place, allowing an audience to make a judgement on whether they
would enjoy the film. Sound effects of the distorted, dehumanised scream are heard, showing that
Victor is back, and chopping is heard during this cut building up tension up to a black screen where
the word ‘Hatchet’ appears alone in front of black, making it a memorable title for the audience. We
then see two more short clips from the film, one being a woman saying ‘we’re all going to die’
making the audience worried for what they are going to watch.