Analysis of the mise-en-scene of horror film trailers

1. Horror Film
Trailer
Analysis and
Research

2. A young married couple's lives
are thrown into a harrowing
tailspin when an acquaintance
from the husband's past brings
mysterious gifts and a horrifying
secret to light after more than 20
years.
When a young doctor suspects
she may not be alone in her new
Brooklyn loft, she learns that her
landlord has formed a
frightening obsession with her.

3. Mise-en-scene

4. Setting – Location.
• Both films show where the plots are
located which is quite normal
locations, which creates a more
realistic storyline, making the
audience more fearful because of the
normality of the setting. This makes
the audience think that it could
happen to anyone, by playing on the
minds of the audience the fear is
intensified.
• The locations aren’t shown right at
the start of the trailer, but tend to be
shown after the introduction of the
characters. This is to help show that
everything starts off normally and
again making the audience think that
the storyline to the film could happen
to anyone.

5. • Both of the films introduce the main
characters as having quite ordinary lives
and not really having anything
particularly unordinary happening or
going on. They tend to be portrayed as
being happy and content, contrasting
with the main plots of the films.
• ‘The Gift’ starts by introducing a couple
who are moving into a house together
and shows them as being very much in
love with each other.
• ‘The resident’ introduces a single female
as wanting to rent out the loft space to
live in.
• Each trailer shows a shot of the
characters at their jobs which helps to
portray how ordinary the lives of the
characters are, this is done to increase
the fear in the audience by reflecting on
their ordinary lives and making them feel
like it could happen to anyone.
Introduction of the “good” characters.

6. First introduction of the stalkers.
• In stalker thriller films the stalker
character tends to be introduced in
the trailers at the beginning close to
the introduction of the other main
character/s. In these first shots of the
stalkers they are portrayed as being
quite ordinary men just wanting to be
kind and generous.
• In ‘The Gift’ the stalker character is
introduced as being an old
acquaintance from school with the
male, he is shown to be round their
house having dinner and leaving a
series of gifts.
• In ‘The Resident’ the character of the
stalker is portrayed to be a
hardworking male, working on the
apartment he is wanting to rent out.
He is also shown bumping into the
female at a party where he appears
cheerful and polite.

7. Change in the stalkers.
• About half way through the trailers
there is a change in the presentations
of the stalker characters and the
audience sees them become the
stalker and begins to feel on edge
regarding the character.
• The stalker in ‘The Gift’ starts to be
represented as evil after the other
main male says he should stay away
from his house. Its at this point that
shots portraying bad things such as
the dead fish change the perception
of his character.
• The stalker in ‘The Resident’ isn’t
shown to be the same guy at first
because of the series of events that
happen don’t show a person directly
causing them. It is later on in the fast
cuts where we spot him as the stalker,
for example when he is stood behind
a door.

8. Information about the stalkers found.
•In both of the films, the protagonists
(both as females) find out information
from and about their stalkers.
•‘The Gift’ shows a file found about the
stalker with a mug shot being the most
clear part of it, this intensifies how bad
the situation is and makes the audience
increasingly aware that he shouldn’t
have been trusted.
•‘The Resident’ shows video footage of
the stalker actually in the females
house, watching her as she sleeps. This
clip is added into the trailer to again
intensifies the situation. However the
clip doesn’t show the face of the stalker
so it is at this point still unclear as to
who the stalker definitely is, this adds a
different kind of fear for the audience
because of the lack of knowledge and
element of mystery left by the trailer at
this point.

9. Props used.
• There is shots in both trailers during the
quick cross-cutting and editing that
shows knives being picked up. In both
shots the knives are originally being used
to cut food which shows how the lives
are continued to be ordinary.
• By showing that the knives were already
in use the moment of horror is
intensified by representing the moment
as tense and the knife being the first
defence mechanism to be thought about,
this plays on the mind of the audience
and makes them more fearful.

10. Ending scenes to the trailer.
•Both trailers end with a climax to the
film as a way to persuade the audience
to go and watch the film.
•‘The Gift’ ends with the male
protagonist watching a final gift from
the stalker, the facial expressions
portrayed shows the fear and terror on
his face as he watches it and then the
audience is shown a part of what he is
watching which intensifies the fear
being a climatic point in the film.
•‘The Resident’ ends with the stalker
actually grabbing the female
protagonist through the mirror as she
tries to hide away from him. This scene
is added because it makes the audience
jump in fear as it is unexpected, this
would make the audience want to
watch the film because they have a feel
for the horror it portrays.