The trailer for the film "Hide and Seek" begins conventionally but takes an unconventional turn. It establishes that a family is moving after the mother's death, which seems to be from natural causes. However, the daughter Emily claims to have an imaginary friend named Charlie who then seems to be threatening the family. Shots of a disturbed pet and threatening messages heighten tension. While it seems Emily may be unstable, the ending of the trailer hints that the father may be the true threat. Unconventional final frames add mystery by challenging the viewer to "play the game" and find the secret.

1. TRILER ANALYSIS – ‘HIDE AND SEEK’
The trailer begins conventionally with a green screen and 20th century fox logo,
horror trailers always feature film logos at the start. This shot is followed by an
establishing shot of buildings in New York; the non-diegetic sound begins which a
soft and happy violin playing peacefully. There is a bird‟s eye view shot of a car
travelling through a wood, dialogue reveals that Emily is going through a very
“traumatic time” and is “flooded with memories” so she and her father are moving
away. The wood looks cold and dark, the trees are bare and the sky is grey, this
suggests that there is no hope for the family no matter where they move to. (See still
below.) At this point in the trailer, already, the audience are aware there may be no
way out for the family and so they are lured in to find out what is going to happen.
After this, the shot fades to white, there is a sharp non diegetic sound and the shot
fades to a medium shot of a woman pushing a round-a-bout, the audience will
assume this is Emily‟s mother who has died and her death is the reason why they are
moving away to start a fresh, so David, Emily‟s father can be a “full time dad.”
Following shots show David and Emily moving into their new home and Emily reveals
to David that she has met a new friend who has told her to call him „Charlie‟, at this
point in the trailer, the audience think nothing of it, it is only when the trailer
continues and David questions who „Charlie‟ is that they find out „Charlie‟ may be
an imaginary friend. When David asks if „Charlie‟ is with them, there is a loud stab of
non-diegetic sound and a medium shot is revealed of David looking worried, the
shot then fades to black and then reveals a medium long shot of David walking
down a corridor towards the bathroom. The non-diegetic sound is loud and rapid to
create tension for the audience. When he pulls back the shower curtain, the non-
diegetic sound intensifies even more to make the sound high pitched and terrifying.

2. Behind the shower curtain, there are the words „you let her die‟ written in blood
around the bath. This frightens the audience and they can only assume „her‟ is
Emily‟s mother; this makes them curious into how she died and who wrote it. The shot
moves really quickly to a medium close up revealing a long shot of Emily who claims
it was Charlie who wrote the words. (See still below)
Following shots show David meeting a woman called Elizabeth who lives in the area,
he wonders if there are any children who can have play dates with Emily. A medium
close up of Elizabeth smiling suggests there may be some kind of romance that will
start between her and David. A number of shots follow of the three of them around
the dinner table, Emily says, that Charlie says, David likes Elizabeth and Emily asks if
David has told her about her „mummy‟ and then there is a loud, sharp non-diegetic
stab of sound followed by four quick shots, one of a door opening, one of David
screaming and one a close up of Emily‟s face which cuts to a long shot of her
standing in a bathroom, the audience can only assume this is a flashback of the
night the mother died and it was obviously something very bad that happened to
the her, they may even assume that Emily has something to do with her death. The
shot then fades to black and cuts back to a medium close up of Emily around the
dinner table who says to Elizabeth that she hopes she doesn‟t wind up like her
mother. The medium close up shows Emily looking less childlike, she has a black top
on, her hair styled and jewellery on (see still below), perhaps Emily wants to be the
only girl in her father‟s life and she is jealous of Elizabeth and fears she will take her
father away from her. The audience are unaware whether what she said to
Elizabeth about her mother winding up is a threat and at this point in the trailer, it is
Emily who the audience think is psychologically disturbed.

3. Following shots are unconventional straps of the actors who feature in the film. The
film is capitalising on the fact it has „A-list‟ celebrity actors such as Dakota Fanning
and Robert De Niro. Usually, unknown actors feature in horrors to create realism for
the film, making it scarier. Within these straps, the audience can hear David telling
Emily that „Charlie‟ doesn‟t exist, the shots cuts to a medium shot of Emily who tells
David that he shouldn‟t say that because „Charlie‟ will “get mad.” While this
dialogue is occurring non-diegetic sound is like a creepy choir voice with a
thumping sound alongside. The sound is slow but intense which heightens the
audience‟s anticipation and fear. After Emily says this, there is a non-diegetic stab
and Emily asks Elizabeth if she likes games, and reveals to Elizabeth that she is
playing one. Then there is a stab of non-diegetic sound and David finds the family
pet has been drowned in the bath tub, Emily denies killing the animal and blames
„Charlie‟, as she is asking David if he believes her, she walks towards the camera as it
pulls away, this suggests that her mental state is deteriorating.
The following shot shows a police man turning up at their house and Emily tells him
that she is drawing a picture of him dying, then there is a stab of sound and the lights
which off, this triggers the conventional montage of shots. The shots include: A bird‟s
eye view of David in bed, a close up of David‟s hand holding a knife and then the
shot cuts to someone entering Emily‟s room, the audience can guess it is David. The
next shot is someone kicking a door open and then attacking Elizabeth and then the
audience hear David shout Emily‟s name. The following shot is a low angle shot of
Emily looking out of a window and smiling; this shot gives Emily power, and lets the
audience know that she is taking over. (See still below.) The final shot within the
montage is David drowning. While these shots are occurring the audience can hear
Emily counting up in thousands in the back ground of the action, alongside
heightened, loud and aggressive non-diegetic sound. As Emily gets nearer to
‟10,000‟ the shots tighten and become quicker and the non-diegetic sound gets
louder, this once again, heightens the audiences terror and anticipation, until finally
the non-diegetic sound explodes and there is a conventional strap of the title of the
film. This signals the ending of the trailer.

4. Unconventionally, the final shots include straps which say: „if you want to know the
secret...you have to play the game‟ all the while Emily is calling „Charlie‟ and then
the shot cuts to a medium close up, low angle shot of her saying “come out, come
out, wherever you are” this shot acts as a sting (see still below). Having the straps at
the end of the trailer is unconventional because they are usually in the middle; the
straps make the audience wonder what the „secret‟ is and this will make them want
to go and watch the film. Little do they know, the secret is that it is actually David
who is psychologically disturbed and not his daughter, Emily. The final shot is
conventionally the release date of the film and the website where eager fans can
find out more.