Assignment 3 - Trailer analysis

The movie trailer I will be analysing is 'Goodnight, mommy',  a 2014 Austrian horror film, written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. It a visual thriller; the cinematography combined with the psychological gouging of child/mother relationship leaves the audience squirming. Every aspect of the trailer is minimalistic; the speech is limited and the shots are mainly wide even though every few seconds an extreme close up shot is used to create an effect of terror and suspense. During the beginning of the trailer, long shots/cuts are used, which creates a slow pace and tense atmosphere. As the trailer advances and the horror unfolds, quicker cuts are used and at the end there are extremely rapid cuts which immensely impact the pace of the trailer. I think this is a very easy yet effective way to create unease in the audience.

Also, the colour scheme is kept very earthy and there are many shots in nature/greenery that contrast well with the costume and setting which are often muted shades of grey and brown. The fact that so many of the scenes are outside shows that the movie is set somewhere away from much civilisation or any cities and appears to be somewhere in the countryside. The camerawork is very conventional for movies of the genre(horror); many pan shots are included and often the camera follows the main character which, again, adds to the eerie effect. 

Many different sources and intensities of lighting are explored. As you can see by the screenshots, there are a variety of shots sizes and angles, however often the angles are kept at eye level in order to maintain an address to the audience and make it seem like they is really there. This helps to create a scarier impact on the audience. The narration, as mentioned, is hardly present and every 4-5 seconds captions are used. The same font is used for these as the movie title at the end of the trailer.