The document analyzes techniques used in the trailer for the film "The Shining" to build tension and atmosphere. It discusses how the trailer uses techniques like low camera angles, slow pacing with few cuts, dull color palettes, and ominous music and sounds to create an unsettling, ominous, and anxiety-inducing tone that draws in the audience and prepares them for a horror film. Close-ups of the protagonist's creepy face and inconsistent depictions of his character add to making him seem mysterious and unsettling.

1. Trailer Analysis: The Shining
By Tooey Jones

2.  The long shot of the elevator helps to build tension and create an eerie
atmosphere coincide with the genre of the film.
 A low angle shot is used on the doors to build tension. The use of a low angled
shot also makes the doors look more important/significant than the viewer,
the audience is looking up on them and therefore are in a vulnerable position.
 No movement in the shot is another tension building technique, the viewer
knows something will happen.
 The use of a minimalistic shots mean there are less places for something to
hide, should they see it coming?
 Establishing shots of mountains and forests helps set the scene. Though in
these shots the forests are not particularly intimidating, forests can connote
danger and peril.
 There are lots of close-ups of the protagonists face (it is distinctly creepy and
the more the audience sees it the more likely they are to remember it - the
closer something is to you the scarier it is)
 The use of slanted camera angles is slightly unexpected or irregular and
therefore suggest something may be going wrong.
Camera

3.  Ascending titles throughout the trailer in a simple white typeface ensures the
audience are not distracted from the visuals.
 The titles at the end of the trailer resemble the titles at the end of a film. The constant
scrolling creates tension and attracts the audiences attention to make them continue
watching.
 The lack of cuts and changes in shot emphasises simplicity and helps the audience
focus more clearly on the visuals and creates a sense of anticipation.
 The use of fades to black both builds tension and helps the audience to focus on the
information they are being given. This is also a technique used to show a jump in time.
 Towards the end of the trailer the tensions start to build, this is because the clips get
shorter and therefore the pace of the trailer picks. This creates a more panicked
intense atmosphere and requires the audiences full attention , putting them on the
edges of their seats.
 Cuts quickly to a zooming close-up shot of the protagonists face to intensify the fear
for the audience.
Editing

4.  Lots of dull colours are used like brown, grey
and white which creates an eerie atmosphere
as they are dark, grimy colours.
 The bright red blood gushing through the
doors contrasts with the dull colours of the
room. This shows connotations of death and
terror which are representative of the horror
genre.
 The setting of a hotel lobby makes the scene
seem more present and real to the audience
as this will be a familiar place to many viewers
as most of then will have been in a hotel at
some point.
 The location is also rural and secluded, hard to
get help.
 The protagonists character is contradicted
making him appear very mysterious
and deceiving, he was
shown attacking someone in then in the
following clip he is depicted as a professional
looking, family orientated businessman.
Mise-en-scene

5.  Non-diegetic crescendo played on group of stringed instruments
builds tension and works with visuals to create tension.
 Single non-diegetic piano notes played throughout the trailer
also build tension through their simplicity as they give the
audience a chance to focus on the visuals.
 The voice over at the beginning plays a big part in setting the
scene and introducing characters. The voice is very stern and
powerful, the voice of someone you would trust and listen to.
This makes it sound more believable.
 Striking sounds are used at the end to make the audience feel
uncomfortable and scared, this is a generic trait of the horror
genre.
Sound