1. GOTHIKA TRAILER ANALYSIS
The trailer begins conventionally with images of logos of film companies
however, unconventionally we hear Penelope Cruz’s character (Chloe)
saying to Halle Berry’s character (Miranda) “you have no idea how it feels not
to be trusted.” This creates a sound bridge from the logos into the opening
shot and immediately grabs the attention of the audience.
Chloe looks bedraggled; she has no makeup on and is wearing a hospital
gown on. In contrast with this, a medium close up reveals that Miranda looks
professional, her hair is neatly tied back, out of her face, she has makeup on
which makes her look natural and pretty, she looks healthy and tidy and
nothing but sane at the start of the trailer. When Chloe says “crazy” the shot
cuts to the medium close up below, could this foreshadow that soon she will
be the one that is crazy?
As Chloe speaks about her mental state, a wide shot replicates and shows her
feelings. The setting looks like a prison, Chloe is literally incarcerated, and this
reflects the fact that she is trapped inside of her own mind. Her head is
shrouded and hidden by her hair, which makes it look dark, it could be
suggested that at this moment, she is in a very dark place psychologically
and being hidden away from society. They are surrounded by a wire mesh
and the window in the setting is small and far away (as you can see below),
there is a lack of light and lack of hope for Chloe. Non diegetic sound though
out is eerie and intense.

2. An extreme close up is used of Miranda’s eye, she has no colour in her eyes,
could this hint that the colour in her life is about to be taken and the
audience are going to be exposed to the inside of her which must be
vulnerable. A graphic match is used as we move from her eye to the logo
‘dark castle’. This is a clever way to move footage and it highlights that things
are about the change for Miranda and turn dark.
Eerie non diegetic sound continues to unnerve the audience and heighten
their expectations. The first strap is super imposed onto a long shot of Miranda.
This is unusual and unconventional; normally straps are against a plain black
background. The strap labels Miranda as an “expert” and having it super
imposed onto her makes the strap personal to her. The setting backs up the
idea that she is an expert. She is in some kind of medical environment, she is
carrying a stack of informal papers and she is wearing an ID badge. She
commands the space and is in the centre of the frame. She is wearing

3. sensible shoes, a knee length skirt and a roll neck sweater; she looks
professional, sophisticated and confident that she knows what she is doing.
The following straps reveal that she is an expert at knowing what is rational,
logical and sane; these words are highlighted by turning red, this suggests
that danger is coming and tells the audience that this film is clearly a
psychological horror and draws in the fans of this sub-genre. These words are
ironic as considering she is supposed to be an ‘expert’ she becomes, insane,
illogical and irrational.
As the trailer continues an extreme long shot is used of her leaving the mental
hospital. The setting looks gloomy and dismal and this sets it up as a bad
place. There is a sign which says ‘woodward penitentiary.’ ‘Penitentiary’
makes the place seem even more like a prison. The word ‘pen’ also reminds
the audience of animal cages; the patients are locked away like animals. The
building looks hostile, the colour of the brick is cold and there is little light,
once again signalling there is no hope and that whoever is in there is trapped.
Compared to the previous long shot she is no longer commanding the frame,
she looks scared and vulnerable and insignificant against the building, this is a
hint that the building is soon going to consume her.

4. The trailer is gradually meeting Miranda’s turning point now. She has messy
hair, her costume no longer looks professional and her complexion is
deteriorating compared to how she looked before. A colleague of hers
comes behind her to jovially scare her and it works, she shrieks and jumps and
we are now seeing the vulnerable side to Miranda Grey. Her colleague says
“all this education and you still can’t remember an umbrella” this is trivial and
sets up the idea that as well as an umbrella, she is going to forget herself.
When Miranda is in the car, the footage slows down and diegetic sound is
emphasized by the splashing puddles. The can tell something is about to
happen and are put on red alert. The action speeds up, a long shot of a girl
appears and the car crashes. The action fades to black to reflect the car
crash, when in shock or you are scared your eyes shut. The audience are able
to share the moment as there is a quick point of view shot of the girl and then
a close up of Miranda’s reaction. The girl seems to be a ghost; her stock
costume is a white nighty and she has white skin, she is a block of paleness.
The audience can tell this girl is a ghost, as any human would jump out of the
way but the girl just stands there, emotionless and drenched.

5. There is a
long shot of
Miranda
approaching
the girl, she
looks
apprehensive
as the ‘ghost
girl’ doesn’t
move, she
asks “are you
okay” and
then the ‘ghost girl’ grabs her face. The non diegetic sound is firing to scare
the audience even more and make them jump. The audience question who
is this ‘ghost girl’? Why is she there? And what does she want?
Straps that follow reveal that Miranda was an expert ‘until the day she woke
up on the other side.’ There is a medium close up of her reaching towards the
camera. She is a completely different woman to who she was at the start of
the trailer, her hair is dry and dishevelled and she looks pale and haunted, she
is now a desperate woman who is no longer in control. There is also a change
in mise-en-scene, the hospital setting used to be bright when she dominated
the corridors, now it is dark, gloomy and plain and the building has consumed
her. The fact that she has ‘woke up’ suggests that her mindset changed
instantly over night and that it wasn’t gradual, this makes the audience
question what happened. The non diegetic sound is like an eerie screech and
the camera pulling away suggests her sanity moving away from her. The
screen fades to white to show her non existence sanity and the action cuts to
a long shot of the building that she is now a patient in, the building looks like a
prison and it is now clear to the audience that she has changed from the
woman she once was.

6. Soon after this there is a shot of her in her ‘cell’ this fully establishes to the
audience she’s a patient and there is zero doubt that she is now a shadow of
her former self. She is cornered to the side of the room and it is dominating
her. Her gown is pulled up exposing her legs, she has no control over her
dignity and this is a huge contrast to her previous costume. She looks
desperate, scared and small. The room is dark, cold and hostile and the bed
looks hard and metallic. There is a chink of light that signals it is now Miranda
that has no hope. She is imprisoned in the worst place possible; everything is
grey which is ironic as she is Miranda Grey. (See image below)

7. In a following medium shot her colleague announces that she has killed her
husband. There is a stab of non diegetic sound that emphasizes her shock
that the audience echoes. The audience begin to question her mental state
and they also come to the conclusion that this is why she is locked away, they
also wonder if there is a link between the ‘ghost girl’ and her husband’s
murder. This intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch the film
to find out.
Shots that follow include a long shot of police cars and journalists and a
medium close up of Miranda looking at a news paper article about the
murder. All of these shots are blaming her for the death of her husband and
she is in denial. Throughout this, non diegetic sound pounds, to signal rising
tension and mimicking her panicked heart beat.
Two very quick close ups follow on from this of the ‘ghost girl’. She looks dirty
and is ravenously baring her teeth, she has wet, mangled hair, her eyes look
wicked and wild and her nose is scrunched to cause an evil frown on her
face. She looks like she is about to attack and launch herself at Miranda and
we hear her actions through heightened diegetic sound of her slicing
something with a sharp utensil. The audience question, did the ‘ghost girl’ kill
the
husband?

8. Then there is a close up of Miranda gasping and there is shock and alarm in
her eyes, it is as if what we have just seen of the ‘ghost girl’ is a flash back in
her mind, is she remembering the night of her husband’s death? Or is this a
figment of her imagination and the ‘ghost girl’ is just in her messed up mind?
The audience want to know the answer to these questions, making them
want to watch the film.
Another series of shots follow on revealing that Miranda definitely saw a vision
of a dead girl on the night of the murder. There is an extreme long shot of the
‘ghost girl’ in the door way at the end of a very long, dark corridor. She is
standing in the doorway with light behind her. The environment seems to be
underground as there is water, pipes and limited lighting, apart from the light
behind her. The ‘ghost girl’ looks translucent, and white. She looks very
relaxed; this contrasts with Miranda’s current feelings. Perhaps this is the
basement of Miranda’s home? If it is it backs up the idea that the ‘ghost girl’
does have something to do with Miranda’s husband’s death. Or it could
represent that the dark corridor is a figment of Miranda’s imagination and the
‘ghost girl’ is in the darkest depths of Miranda’s mind. The fact that the ‘ghost
girl’ is blocking the light behind her could symbolise that the ‘ghost girl’ is
standing in the way of Miranda retrieving her sanity and blocking any hope
Miranda has.
Through dialogue in a later shot an elderly male character who is well dressed
and spoken informs Miranda that “the girl died four years ago.” The audience
believe him because of his presence, he seems to be a reliable source, and
the audience have now established that the ‘ghost girl’ is definitely a ghost.
After the revelation, two rapid shots follow, one of a car and one of the
‘ghost girl’ screaming. However, the girl seems to have more life in her, could
this be a flashback of her death? Did she die in a car accident and now she
stands in the road as a spirit reliving her death over and over again and
Miranda just so happened to see her? The non diegetic sound compliments
the shot as it is a loud high pitched screech.
Miranda claims that the ‘ghost girl’ has come to her with a “very specific
agenda” this makes the audience wonder what this agenda is. The following
shot is a wide shot of the ‘ghost girl’ actually in the mental hospital, we know

9. this because of the setting, it looks clinical and there is a typical trolley of bed
sheets. The ‘ghost girl’ is walking in a slow, unnatural and disjointed way, she
seems to know where she is going. The ‘ghost girl’ seems to be looking at the
camera but her face is covered by darkness, this makes her look even more
terrifying for the audience who are already unnerved by her strange walk
and tilted body. Her presence in this shot is key; the ‘ghost girl’ is continuing to
haunt Miranda, but why? The audience must watch to find out. There is also a
suggestion that because she must have been ran over and killed near by,
maybe she was once a patient at the hospital and escaped and was killed
whilst wearing her hospital gown and this is why she wanders in the white
nighty. Maybe, she now haunts the hospital and for some reason she has
targeted Miranda.
Two shots follow soon after which are joined together using a dissolve. One is
a medium close up of Miranda’s arm with the words ‘not alone’ brutally
carved on her arm and a long shot of her by a door with the same words
written in
blood on the
door. Firstly,
this creates a
symbiotic link
between the
trailer and
the film
poster.
Secondly, this
consolidates
that she is not
alone and is
being
haunted. Or,
if she herself
has carved these words then this could suggest symptoms of psychosis, e.g.

10. self harm, paranoia and unusual behaviour. Thirdly, in this shot, she is
silhouetted through the use of back lighting suggesting that she is in a dark
place. Surrounding the words there is blood scattered all around, this suggests
that the action was done in a frantic frenzy. One of the blood marks to the
right of the door looks like a scary face, this adds a scary feel and suggests
Miranda is forever being watched.
After this, there is a big close up of Miranda’s face, she is now mimicking what
Chloe said at the very start, “you can’t trust someone who thinks you are
crazy” she is now in the position that Chloe is in. Miranda has dramatically
fallen and her words could reflect being psychotic, no one can truly
understand what it is like or help until they have been there. It is only now that
Miranda can finally help Chloe as she knows what it is like.
Unconventionally, straps follow that reveal the actors names along side
medium close ups of the characters they play. The film is capitalising on the
fact that the film has ‘A list’ Hollywood actors. Usually horrors feature unknown
actors which creates realism for the film, making it scarier. Within these shots,
Chloe asks Miranda if she is scared, this puts Chloe in a superior role
compared to the beginning, Chloe is now looking out for Miranda. She was
once Miranda’s patient but now she has turned into her friend.
In the last 20 seconds of the trailer there is a deep shot of an axe, the
audience may guess that this is the night of Miranda’s husband’s murder, and
the axe could be the murder weapon. There is a silhouette of a man and
headlights of a car approaching. Could this be taking the audience right
back to the
start of the
trailer before
the crash
and be
revealing her
husband’s
murder? The
silhouette
could be her
husband,
Miranda is in
the car
approaching
and the
‘ghost girl’ is
holding the axe about to kill the husband and appear in front of the car. All of
these questions are circulating the audience’s mind and this is making them
want to watch the film.

11. After this shot, we have a conventional quick montage of shots. One of them
includes a shot of a troubled looking Miranda looking in the mirror, maybe she
is now truly seeing herself for what she has turned into. The final piece of
dialogue we hear is Chloe telling Miranda that she should be scared which
leave the audience with a sense of feelings scared and anxious and
desperate to find out what she should be scared of.
The closing shots reveal ‘Gothika’ written in the signature font that is on all the
promotional material creating a symbiotic link. The word turns from white to
red signalling the idea of change, danger and death. It reflects that she was
once pure and now she is disturbed, troubled and in a dangerous place.
Finally, there are two shots of institutional information and then ‘coming soon’
which is conventional. There is also a web address where eager fans of the
film can find out more.