SORORITY ROW ANALYSIS – SHAUN LIDDLE

As the Sorority Row trailer begins the genre of the film is not

clear to the audience. The American house party shown in

the beginning of the trailer refers to the target audience; we

see this as teenagers are drinking alcohol having fun, with an

upbeat track running in the background. Edits are used at

the start of the trailer showing the clips lasting for about one

second; this is used to highlight the fun element to the

trailer. The setting is clearly established at the start of the

trailer as it is shown before anything else. In order to establish the setting the camera pans the house to give the

audience a full view. As the film is set in a university this also reflects on the younger target audience. The mise-en-

scene at the beginning of the trailer denotes young people dancing, drinking and cheering this connotes a sense of

fun to the start of the trailer. The director uses this sense of fun at the start so the audience do not expect the trailer

to end in the way it does, therefore this highlights the dramatic change. Camera angles and movements are used

differently at the start of the trailer low angle shots are used to connote the power the characters have at the time.

As the trailer continues we see edits cut to the girls, which basically establishes the main characters within the film.

Dialogue is used from one of the characters which gives the audience a view of the story line ‘that boy needs to be

taught a lesson’ this sounds as if the film is based on revenge as the Non-Diegetic sound suddenly stops when the

character says this line. We then see a prank take place where a boy is shown making out with a girl, without him

knowing it’s going to be a prank. The girl then pretends to be sick, choking on her own vomit. The director makes it

clear to the audience that this is a prank because of the edits. A text clip appears saying ‘A PRANK’ then after several

seconds we then see ‘NO ONE WOULD EVER FORGET’, the text clips are used to make the storyline clear to the

audience, and to back up the moving image in case the audience do not know what is going on.

As there is cut to the car scenes a handheld camera is used within the car to make the scene look more realistic. A

number of different musical track are used in the trailer as the upbeat party track changes to ‘They did a bad, bad

thing’. We then see the car pull up to a typical horror movie scene, where the friends are about to dump the body

even though this is still a prank. With the boy actually thinking that he has murdered the girl he then actually stabs

her with a tool from the car. When this happens a screeching Non-Diegetic sound effect is used to make the

audience jump and therefore this gets them involved. The edits used also turns the screen colour into black and

white which highlights the sudden change from the fun jokes, to the seriousness of the trailer. The clips then start to

turn to a faster pace as the moving image trailer now gets exciting.

Screams and cries are then used which is a typical horror convention used in all horror films. The audience now see

more text clips including things such as ‘A SECRET’ and ‘KNOWONE WOULD EVER TELL’ the director does this to

summarise the film. A close up shot is shown of the victims hands and then we see her get dragged away, this is also

a typical horror convention used in a variety of horror films. Shortly after a long shot is used showing a silhouette of

the girls and the killer as they prepare to dispose of the victim’s body down a mine shaft. A worm’s eye view shot is

then used as the body gets dropped down the mine shaft, which connotes the power in which the murderers have,

the worm’s eye view shot also remains as the weapon is dropped on top of the girl. The screen then cuts to a white

cut which lasts for about four seconds.

We then see the graduates celebrating which is also another dramatic change within the trailer. However we then

hear some dialogue saying ‘no matter how happy as this day is, one of our sisters is still missing, to Megan!’ this

shows that it is now in the present as the characters dwell on the past. Text tones alert when there is a close up on a

picture message of the murder weapon. This indicates that the body has been found therefore the girls start to

worry. The trailer then refers back to the start and one of the most vital parts of the storyline as dialogue is used ‘it’s

a prank; it got to be a prank’.

As the trailer shows the first murder the girl is lying down on a sofa which connotes the vulnerability. The killer is

also hidden and dressed in black who represents death. The costume is a graduation costume therefore it could be

anyone as it is the graduation day, this keeps the audience thinking, and makes them determine to find out who the

killer is. As the second killing proceeds, the lighting makes the shot look red which connotes blood therefore relates

the genre of the film. As the camera cuts to a wall with a message saying you’re next written in blood it is typical of a

horror film to include death threats as such. The clip then goes quiet for a number of seconds which automatically

makes the audience think something to make them jump is going to happen; we then see a girl jump up and slam

against the window. The crescendo used also makes the audience jump and indicates that something scary is going

to happen.

After this we see a number of fast clips showing an action packed finale of the trailer. The clips show the killer

chasing the characters however we don’t see any of them get killed, this leaves the audience is suspense so they will

go and see the film. The crescendo of music then cuts as the title of the film is shown.

Finally we are then left with some humour as there is a medium shot of an old lady holding a gun when saying ‘don’t

think I’m afraid of you, I run a house with 50 crazy bitches’ this is used to show the element of humour in which the

horror includes, therefore leaves the trailer on a positive.