The trailer for the 2008 slasher horror film Eden Lake summarizes the plot where a young couple's romantic weekend is disrupted by a gang of youths who brutally torture them. The trailer uses fast-paced editing with quick cuts between shots to build tension, showing various scenes of violence from the film over upbeat modern music. While the trailer effectively conveys the film's premise and tone, it may have given away too many key plot details and events.

1. Gemma Gaskell
Film Title: Eden Lake
Release Date: 2008 (James Watkins)
Genre: Slasher Horror
Brief Plot Synopsis:
Refusing to let anything spoil their romantic weekend break, a young couple confront a gang of
loutish youths with terrifyingly brutal consequences. (From Imbd.com)
Briefly describe the content of the trailer: The trailer shows a lot of the film footage, helping the
audience get a sense of what happens in the film. It uses upbeat music from a modern artist, Dizzee
Rascal, to reflect the modern aspects of this horror film, which is what makes it terrifying.
Average shot length: 5 seconds = fast paced, creating tension in the trailer.
Time in seconds of the whole trailer: 147 seconds
Count the number of shots: 72 very fast paced, shows a lot of film footage.
Sequence time in seconds/ Number of shots = (Average Shot Length) 2 – 3 seconds
Describe the settings and range of locations – Mostly set in Eden Lake, where the brutal tortures
take place. Shows them driving to Eden Lake, contrasting their life before to what it is at the end.

2. Describe the Star/s and characters (include dress/look/mode of address/stance
etc). Are there typical horror character spheres? Each character wears their every
day clothes, but this contrasts the social class divide in the film from the gang of
youths to Jenny and Steve. People that star in it are actors, but not incredibly
popular.
Were there any props significant to the trailer?
The knife that kills Brett‟s dog, as this is what sets the gang of youths off to
torture/kill Jenny and Steve. The torture weapons are also significant, as this is
what happens in the film.

3. How would you describe the camera work? Did it use particular types of shot?
Lots of cuts are used to create a fast pace, building up tension. It used a range of
shots depending on the focus of the shot, for example, a long shot to show the spike
Jenny stands on.
How was sound used on the trailer, was there scripted sections/voice over –
style/tone.
Music by Dizzee Rascal is played when the gang of youths are first shown, showing
the modern aspects of this film. At the end there is also a line of dialogue spoken by
Jenny to bring the trailer to a close, but she‟s crying, showing the brutal tortures that
are going to be in the film. There is also lines of dialogue that are said in the film
such as “help me!”
The editing? Pace, type of transitions e.g. cut/fade etc. How was it cut to the music?
First shot is a fade, showing the contrast of Jenny and Steve‟s life before they went
to Eden Lake, from then on the shots are very fast cuts, to create this build up of
tension throughout.

4. What was the trailer about? Did it link to the film synopsis/title? Trailer reflects the type of
film Eden Lake is, and gives a lot away of what happens in the film. The place the trailer and
film is set in (Eden Lake) is what the title is, but is ironic as „Eden‟ means paradise, but
shows it is everything but this.
Were there any predominant themes? Torture and Social Class divide.
Write down anything you think worked particularly well on this Trailer? The fact that a lot of
footage is shown, giving the audience a sense of what the film is about. Also, the fact no
information about the film is told until the end also draws the audience in.
Anything you didn‟t think worked?
The only thing I think didn‟t work was that the trailer gave too much of the real film footage
away, specifically the events that happen, so you know what‟s going to happen straight away.
This is because the trailer doesn‟t leave a cliff-hanger or anything unanswered.