Advanced ProductionInitial Research – Cross Media Film

Promotion (Trailers)

Codes and Conventions

Film Information

• Film Title Silent Hill Release Date 2006

• Genre Unnatural Horror

• Brief Plot Synopsis

After seeing her daughter experience strange dreams of which she visits a specific town in her sleep, a woman goes in search of the strange, desolate Silent Hill. However, during a harsh car crash it seems she ends up in the search of finding her daughter.

Why did I choose this film?

I chose this film to research into the trailer as I know it revolves a lot around the themes of

cult, human sacrifice and the diurnal world. All of these themes occur in the story that we as a

group have created and so it will be interesting to look into the conventional

elements of a blockbuster trailer similar to the idea that we have come up with.

Briefly describe the content of the trailer

As it begins we see Rose talk to her young daughter Sharon about the strange dreams of which Sharon can’t seem to remember. Rose then tells her daughter that she is going to help her remember the town that she

visits in her dreams by taking her to it. The scene then cuts to them driving down a dark, misty road where suddenly they swerve, what seems to be a

child spirit, and crash their car. We then see Rose waking up in their car which is now covered by and

surrounded by snow. To her discomfort the car door is open and her daughter is missing. We then see Rose running around looking for her

daughter. The snow that falls on to her face is black and sleety, symbolic of ash, and she notices the sign of “Silent Hill”.

Various jump cuts then show her exploring the town whilst she is talking on the phone to her husband via sound bridge. This sequence then begins to

show family pictures and shots of her husband researching the town in which she is in big trouble in.

As the trailer continues, we continue to watch the search for Sharon and the exploration of Silent Hill. The music becomes more violent and the cuts

become faster. The trailer ends with a very short clip of Rose looking very scared and the film title concludes.

What was the trailer about? Did it link to the film synopsis/title?

The trailer is about the search for Sharon and features the paranormal/unusual events that happen to Rose. It does link to the synopsis as it doesn’t give the ending away but proves the search and shows that the whole story revolves from Sharon’s dreams. The title is the name of the town and this is focussed on when Rose

looks up to a town sign saying “silent hill”. This happens just after the crash at the beginning of the trailer. This

is a good opening and helps us link what the film is about.

Were there any predominant themes?

The predominant themes in this trailer involve paranormal figures/mystery and juxtaposing lighting. The mystery lies within Rose seeing figures that look

strange and almost translucent. These add to the storyline and make us question whether Silent Hill is a real town. When things seem safe, the lighting is light.

When bad things are happening the lighting is dark and muggy. This helps highlight the juxtaposition that

outlines the “normal world” and its difference to Silent Hill.

Average Shot Length

Time in seconds of the whole trailer = 151

Count the number of shots = 107

Sequence time in seconds/ Number of shots = ASL = 1.4 seconds

Describe the settings and range of locations?

The field at the beginning of the trailer is bright and sunny, relaxing, almost sunset and very peaceful. This reflects the world in which

Rose and her daughter Sharon live in. It is conventional for a horror film as it contrasts what is about to come.

The road, again at the beginning of the trailer, that leads to silent hill is dark, lonely and isolated. It gives us a good description of the

setting that we as an audience are about to enter. It is a good conventional setting as it is very different to the field setting. They

may have chose to use this setting in the trailer as it says a lot about Silent Hill as a town and so introduces themes.

In Silent Hill itself, there are lots of trees. It is covered in snow, and is foggy and isolated. The shops look like they are still open which

makes the town eery and confusing.

Describe the Star/s and characters (include dress/look/mode of address/stance etc). Are

there typical horror character spheres?

Rose is dressed in a smart mac coat. She has short blonde hair which makes her feminine. She however walks with strength which makes her almost fitting into the role of the final girl. Her voice is soft when speaking to Sharon, her daughter, showing she is caring and nurturing. However, when she is confronting the unknown her

strong-willed character is revealed through her firm tone in her voice.

Sharon is a young character and doesn’t feature much in the trailer. I think this is to prove that this film is not about Sharon being lost

but about Rose entering the unknown world to find her. She is sweet natured and this is proven from her high pitched voice.The “people” from the village are slow in stance making them

sterotypically unnatural and thrilling. They are also very slow in speech. Their long cloaks and dark clothing works well as they are not seen as people but as “things”. I think this typically works well

in the trailer as it doesn’t reveal too much about the story.

Were there any props significant to the trailer?

The car radio that is used in the opening of the trailer as Rose and Sharon are driving into the town is a significant prop as it makes Rose crash the car and so

influences the rest of the film. It is not typical of the horror genre but links to the binary opposites theme that she is entering an unknown world from her “normal”

world that is highly influenced by technology.

The crash is followed by Rose exploring where she is as she tries to find Sharon. The city sign of “Welcome to Silent Hill” is ironic as it looks old and rustic. It sets

the scene for the trailer and proves that that’s where Rose is.

Just like the car radio, the laptop and phone used by Rose’s husband are highly distinguishable to be from the “normal” world. These two technologies separate

the world that is Silent Hill from the normal world. Whereas the normal world are very connected, Silent Hill is very deserted and so that calls from Rose to her

husband make Silent Hill seem more terrifying.

Torches and lighters are used by Rose so that she can make her way around and see clearly. The fact that the town is very dark makes it mysterious and the

shadows casted by these props make the scenes look eery.

How would you describe the camera work? Did it use particular types of

shot?There are a large range of shots within this trailer. I

particularly like the large range of high and low angles when Rose is finding her way around in the dark. This makes these scenes make jumbled and nonsensical.

They are conventional of the horror genre as they look mysterious and create an unusual atmosphere.

I also like the shot that pans from the top of Rose’s head to fit her face within the frame. This slowly pans

to reveal black, sleety snow covering Rose’s face. This is unexpected and fits well within the horror genre.

How was sound used on the trailer, was there scripted sections/voice over –style/tone. Music/Sound effects etc

The music is this trailer ranges in contrast to where-about in the film the scenes are taken from. The beginning scenes are accompanied by

slow and peaceful music. This makes the scenes easy to watch. The music seems to cut out as the trailer carries on and instead the more

abrupt scenes are accompanied by harsh sound effects.Some of these sound effects are hard to listen to and very loud. High

pitched scratches, loud bangs, eery crackling and ultimately high pitched noises make the harsh scenes even more hard to watch and so

make the trailer get more thrilling the more it goes on.I particularly like the voice over in this trailer as it hasn't just been

created for the trailer. The voice over is made up of diegetic speech taken directly from the scenes and so it tells the story in that way. The

voice over ultamitely makes up the trailer. There are voices of Rose, Sharon and Rose’s husband. These voiceovers make the trailer make

sense. They tell the story of Silent Hill and where it came from.

The editing? Thing about pace, type of transitions e.g. cut/fade etc. How was it cut to the music?

How was titling used on the trailer, how many title slides were there? Where did they appear in the trailer? What information

did they provide.

Comparing it to other psychological horror trailers, such as “The Strangers” (2008), the editing of this trailer is quite slow. It

however, contrasts itself as at the beginning it is quite slow but builds as it builds in tension. The transitions is this trailer are quite sharp and this adds to the bizarre nature of “Silent Hill”, as a town. Towards the end of the trailer, jump cuts create tension and help tell the story without giving too much away. These transitions fit

well to the fast paced music that builds tension towards the end of the trailer.

Title slides are a big part of this trailer. They help put what is happening into context. They occur throughout the trailer and help

put together the story of the film in a shot context (for example, “What was once an ordinary town…”.

Could you tell by the style of the trailer which genre the film belonged

to? How?

You can notice that this film is a horror film by the style of font used on title slides. This font is very generic and helps make what is being said look thrilling. Also, the sharp, high

pitched, music that builds in tension is very typical of a horror film and is used particularily in this trailer to make

the thrilling clips look more unnatural.

It is also noticeable that this trailer is specifically an unnatural horror film. The dark shadows and cloaked

strangers make the characters that feature much more unnatural as there is no connection between them and

what we would class as “normal”.

Write down anything you think worked particularly well on this

Trailer?

What I think worked well is the pace of the trailer. The trailer built pace in time and was

almost too fast to notice certain things towards the end. However, this added to the mystery and made the trailer unnatural, just like the sub-genre that it is intending to be.

Anything you didn’t think worked?

I didn’t particularly like the way the each scene was shown consecutively. I personally

think they could have left the audience having to guess more to make it more of a mystery.

If the scenes were in a more non-cyclical style (to some degree), then the trailer may have become slightly more thrilling and confusing

than it already is.

Is this a typical trailer for this type of film?...I have used “The Wicker Man” as a comparison trailer as it is an

older film but still deals with thrilling themes to do with cult and human sacrifice.

Silent Hill (2006) The Wicker Man (1973)

The costume worn by the people of the village is very dark and doesn’t reveal much about their character. This is unconventional of the “cult” theme however adds to the mystery.

The costume worn by the people of the village is very non-sensical. They are wearing the heads of dead animals and so this makes it very thrilling. This is conventional as it proves this cult have a motif.

There is a range of settings in this trailer which is conventional of the horror genre as it links to the binary opposites theory of the normal world and the mystery world.

Again, there is a range of settings in this trailer. Some of these settings are familiar and some very strange. However, because it is older I think that the Silent Hill trailer used this trait much better.

Symbolism is used through the young girl that looks like Sharon. This works as it is typical of an unnatural horror.

The symbolism in this trailer occurs through the animals heads and the tribal stance that they portray.

How will I link this to the production of my trailer?

The elements of this trailer that I will use in the production of my trailer are the symbolism, the mysterious lighting and costume and the country setting when driving in the car. Through symbolism, as a group we could come up with a

symbol that occurs throughout the trailer so that scenes can be closely linked together from our audience. The dark lighting and costume will make it easier for us as a group to make

thrilling characters from actors that may not look like we want them to. Finally, I think that the country setting will work well

for the scene we want to shoot revolving the car crash. The country setting is a typical element of the binary opposites of

being dangerous and isolated.