The document provides a description and analysis of the movie poster and trailer for the film "The Shallows". It summarizes the key elements of the poster, including the image of a surfboard with a woman's legs dangling, suggesting her means of safety. It also analyzes design choices like the vibrant red title and shadow effect. The summary then analyzes elements of the trailer, including an opening underwater clip meant to imply the plot and careful use of clips to avoid giving too much away. It praises the realistic shark visual effects and editing that build suspense without revealing the full story.

1. The Shallows
Description:
Still reeling from the loss of her mother, medical student Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) travels to a
secluded beach for some much-needed solace. Despite the danger of surfing alone, Nancy decides
to soak up the sun and hit the waves. Suddenly, a great white shark attacks, forcing her to swim to
a giant rock for safety. Left injured and stranded 200 yards from shore, the frightened young woman
must fight for her life as the deadly predator circles her in its feeding ground.
https://g.co/kgs/iI4aDv

2. Official Movie Poster
Though there are several theatrical posters for this film in different
parts of the world where the film was shown (shown below) but the
main poster is the one shown on the left. It features a surfboard with
legs of a woman dangling out, with her ankles attached to the board,
perhaps to suggest that her surfboard is her form of safety. The shot of
this photo is taken almost from ‘dog point of view’ shot, since it is
looking at an upwards angle, however we are looking as if we are the
shark itself and I think this angle of the shot was taken suitably.
Conventions of the poster were all used as it includes the main picture,
title, tagline, date of release and credits. The title here is in a bright,
vibrant red, which not only stands out against the black background but
could also symbolize how the film will involve danger and blood, since
this colour is associated with these terms. Also it is edited to where
there is a shadow gradually forming at the bottom half of the text,
compliment the poster from the depth and shallows of the water (the
deeper you go down in water, the darker it becomes). All other texts
are in white, any other colour would not suit or stand out as much
against the dark colour. Furthermore, the tagline and image match
because the image involves both the depth and shallows of the water
in one, hence the “what was once in the deep is not in the shallows’,
telling the audience that whatever was the danger below now effects
even the safest parts of the water.

3. The film was made and distrusted through Sony entertainment and Columbia pictures, also known as one of the six major
film studios in the world, so quickly this tells us that the film was well invested in and made if it were to be distributed by
such a big and successful studio to the film industry and market.
The trailer begins a clip as if you are in the surfer’s perspective, by swimming in the water. As waves approach the camera
and goes underneath the water, there is a scream of help with an muffling effect to make it sound more like the screams are
coming straight from underwater. Because there is no characters in this, it could imply towards the plot on how the
character cries for help but has nobody but herself to defend and bring back to safety. This is a good way of telling the
audience a brief idea of what the film’s storyline is about, without giving too much away. Some trailers fall into giving most
of the film away in order to make the trailer appear more lively, when in fact uses the best/exciting parts of the film, thus
creating a risk of disappointment when people go and watch the film as they have already seen it by watching the trailer.
When making planning and making my trailer this is what I want to avoid, preferably for me it is more interesting to give less
away with just bits of action scenes, rather than giving a lot away using a collection of clips from major scenes.

4. After, the clip cuts off to a black screen for a few seconds, and then quickly jumps into a clip where she is injured. Now from
here we can now instantly know that she was bitten by a shark from the bite marks we see. The makeup effects for this was
really done well and looks very realistic, an important factor in any movie when trying to show the audience that the
character is injured. Then, the next clip shows her getting up in a position where she is determined to swim as fast as she
can away from this shark, and back to safe land. However it then shows us how from an aerial shot wide the sea/ocean is in
what looks like an island, so getting away from the shark is not exactly easy, but then again it has to be hard to make a story
out of it.
The tagline/slogan of the film ‘What was once in the deep is now in the shallows’ is incorporated in the trailer, with a long
shot of the character in her surroundings after the first half of the tagline, and then an over the shoulder shot of the
character looking at the land after the second half. Doing this gives the audience that the shark was always in the depths of
the water (as the screenshot above shows a long shot of ocean from afar) to the ‘shallows’, where it suggests to the
audience that it once was a safe place until this shark was her as she looks at the land, telling us that the basic aim of the
film is to get from where she is now to the shore.

5. Last few clips then include shots looking at the shark’s perspective, using a ‘dog eye view’ angle, matching the poster as
explained earlier. So from here, essentially the trailer has managed to give the idea of what the film is about by using very
small clips off the film, however the first clip of the trailer could be filmed specifically for it to prevent giving too much of
the film away – which is a good thing. Final clip involves a birds eye view of both the shark and the character, showing us
how big the ‘antagonist’ of the film is big compared to her. The visual effects and editing/making of this shark was
professional made as it looks realistic. Mise en scene wise, this trailer doesn't’t exactly show what time it is set in since
surfing has been going on for many many years, but in another trailer shows the main character using an iPhone, so by
watching that we can then see it is set in the modern day.
The title/logo is then shown at the end, followed by the date of when it is due to be released and any social media that the
audience can go to if they wish to find more information about the film. But what is different about this trailer is that it did
not end with credits, so in a way is breaking conventions of a film trailer as credits are usually placed at the end of a trailer.