Focused Analysis: Characters

The first trailer I have chosen to look at is for the film 'Valentine'. The film is about a man who got teased and rejected by a group of school girls when he was a teenager. The hurt he experienced from this has resulted in him seeking revenge several years later. There are clear links between this storyline and the storyline of our horror trailer, as ours also involves rejection that leads to violent revenge. At the beginning of the trailer it is unclear what genre the film belongs to, as the young woman laying blissfully on the grass seems content. The next sequence of shots are in black and white and show a flashback of the boy at a Valentines dance as he gets shamefully turned down by a group of girls. The dialogue, 'will you dance with me?', is repeated as if it were an echo - this emphasises its importance, also signifying how prominant this memory must be. The comentry throughout this sequence is what first suggests to the viewer that the boy may be seeking revenge due to this event. There are then three shots of the girls (the ones that rejected/tormented the boy) as grown women, wondering what ever happened to the boy that they treated so badly. Following this there is a crash in music and a montage of action shots (the falling action), many showing fear and violence. There are also three captions that appear, all of which reinforce the theme/story. There are shots of the girls running and screaming in panic during this montage and we are planning to include similar scenes in our own production piece.

I also decided to look at the trailer for the film 'Obsessed' as the characters and storyline resemble that of our horror trailer in many ways. As well as this we are looking to name our film/trailer either 'Obsessed' or 'Obsession' which is also why this trailer seemed an appropriate choice. The woman who is 'obsessed' is initially portrayed as your average employee, and everything appears relatively ok. The main characters are all friendly with each other at the onset, however things soon take a turn. The trailer moves into a state of disequilibrium as the story unfolds and her obsession becomes apparent. This is how I believe our trailer should also be set out. Throughout the trailer the comentry says, 'beyond the mystery is a truth you'll never see coming'. I would like this to be suggested to the audience visually in our trailer.