Movie Trailer Textual Analysis: The Eye
LINK TO THE EYE TEASER TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaVjs1OAvRs
The eye is a Remake of a Hong Kong film named “Jian Gui” and is citified a 15. It was produced by Peter Chan, Roy Lee and Doug Division and released in 2008. It features Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Tamlyn Tomita and Chloe Grace Moretz. The Eye was directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud.
Synopsis: Since a childhood tragedy, Sydney has become blind; she decides to go through a Cornea transplantation (eye transplant) to restore her vision. Little did she know her new set of eyes will cause her to have strange visions, Sydney now has to look for the donor of her eyes and try and find out the truth behind her unexplained visions.
The next shot is a high angle shot showing a view of the streets and houses at night. This shot does a fade transition in to a close up shot of the main actor looking a window. This shot gives an odd feeling to the audience because the first things they are attracted to are her eyes, which are of a grey colour. From this shot we can still see the rain drops on the window; giving us the impression these emotions are still present in her life. As the camera zooms out of her and shows a midshot of her at the window with one hand raised up touching the window like she is trying to escape we get the impression she is trapped. The non diegetic sound that anchors this also makes the audience feel quite unsettled as it builds from a mellow tone to one that sets the atmosphere. The window and blinds could also symbolise some sort of trap.
This shot goes into a wash (fade to black) which shows a close up shot of her getting the bandages removed then her looking through some sort of eye machine that examines her eyes. Which then dissolves into an extreme close up of her eye from the machine’s POV. This part creates tension as it leaves the audience thinking what is about to happen to her eye due to the effects the eye machine makes her eye ball seem to have.
The Eye falls under the psychological/Supernatural horror subgenre. The teaser trailer for this film is 72 seconds in length. The Eye’s teaser trailer follows some of the conventions of horror film teaser trailers, for instance it does not give too much away and it follows a non-linear structure.
The teaser opens up with a straightforward angel shot of an ancient looking door opening then showing the title of Production Company of The Eye (Lionsgate). The shot is accompanied by some non-diegetic sound as to create a bit of tension. The editor may have decided to put their production company first as to allow the audience to know who produced it as the audience are more likely to be alert and paying attention to the trailer at the beginning of it.
This shot then fades into a shot that shows what looks like a point of view shot looking at people walking in the rain with black umbrellas. Black umbrellas may have been used as to symbolise the darkness present at that moment. The rain may have been used in the opening part of the teaser as to put across the darkness and certain emotions such as depression, misery and frustration that the main character may be feeling as we see her straight after this shot. The next shot that shows her is an eye level shot which also seems like a POV shot from someone behind her. This gives the impression there is someone watching or following her as the shot fades into a long shot that shows the main actor walking past a book store using a walking stick. This could make the audience make a link between the emotions the rain may be trying to convey with the fact she is blind. At this point the use of non diegetic sound is still present however this time the audience can also hear some rain and what seems like thunder with other ambient sounds. This creates some tension as it makes the audience wonder what’s going to happen next.
The next shot shows quick cuts of bright lights in circles which then goes into showing a straight forward midshot of the main actor in a hospital bed with bandages around her eyes. This kind of gives away the narrative of the film as the audience use these quick cuts to fill in the gaps about what might have happened to her. This shot uses low key lighting and is also accompanied by non diegetic sound which is not quite scary. This sound plays throughout the rest of the trailer however changes it’s tempo at some parts of the trailer.
A fade transition showing her point of view of people walking past her shows the setting she’s in is still the hospital as it shows people wearing white and greenish uniforms. This shot is also blurred as to emphasize the fact she has just had an eye surgery and is still recovering from it. After this we get to see a cut into a over the shoulder shot of her squinting her eyes, her NVC in this shot gives the impression her eyes are hurting or she is trying to improve her eye sight by squinting and blinking repeatedly.
The shot of her in the car shows her removing her sun glasses then a blank white screen. This could suggest to the audience that her vision is not yet good and it is still unclear about whether the eye surgery went well or not. Later on we then see another over the shoulder shot of her holding a woman’s cheek. This gives the impression she can now see and is trying to come to terms with her new found eyesight. This shot uses low key lighting which darkens the room and gives the impression there are dark forces around them.
The shot that shows her dressing table is unsettling as it shows something that looks like a teddy bear, appearing and disappearing. The darkness surrounding the room could connote the feeling of fear. The teaser starts get even more paces at this part as to build up more tension. This starts especially after the high angle shot of her looking as if she is trying to grab something in the air then a quick cut into her sitting on the kitchen floor and next thing we see a medium close up shot of her face catching fire. The fire at this point could be used to symbolise the danger in which she is about to encounter. This shot is quite good as it is the first part to show something awful happening to the main actor. This is because these are the kind of things horror audiences are will be looking forward to seeing in a trailer as to be encouraged to want to watch the film.
The non diegetic sound is still present at this point but is however more paced as to build up the tension. The close up shot that shows half of her face and then cuts into a shot of a blurred old woman dressed in a night dress gives the audience the impression that her eyes are playing tricks on her. Especially when it then cuts to an extreme long shot showing a little child standing in the middle of the hospital corridor with a shadow approaching him from the other end of the corridor. At this point the audience may be left contemplating on whether she was just seeing things, whether they were real or whether she was dreaming.
The next medium close up shot of her in the bathroom with her head leaning against the wall could depict her vulnerability. Also her NVC could emphasise she is hopeless and has got to a point where she doesn’t know what to do. The non diegetic sound at this point begins to get quite mellow as to anchor the moving image.
The long shot of the two police cars facing each other looking as if their blocking a car from going past could symbolise there is no one that can help the victim as it drives through them and destroys them. The glasses that break from the two cars could symbolise how her life may be shattered and destroyed due to the damage the eye surgery may have done to her eyes.
The long shot of the two police cars facing each other looking as if their blocking a car from going past could symbolise there is no one that can help the victim as it drives through them and destroys them. The glasses that break from the two cars could symbolise how her life may be shattered and destroyed due to the damage the eye surgery may have done to her eyes.
The close up shot of her eyes could suggest she is worn out and her eyes are causing her to deteriorate as they look drained due to the colour and some signs of blood shots. We can also see emotions of fear and sadness by looking at her eyes and facial expressions.
Throughout the trailer we are also shown other characters that appear, which in a way kind of gives the audience a chance to try and guess who might be the person haunting or watching her. For instance the close up shot of a man’s feet in the elevator she enters makes the audience quite anxious about what happened for him for him to end up in there looking like he was hanged and whether he will attack the girl as she’s seen entering that elevator. This therefore shows how the teaser trailer doesn’t give away too much about the characters and what is happening to them or why it is happening. This is a way of trying to get the audience to actually go out and watch the film so they find out for themselves.
We also notice that the teaser uses captions near the end. One is letters of the title of the film being shown using quick cuts. The next caption is of the main actor’s name ‘Jessica Alba’ .This is in both white and red. These are good colours to use as they are related to the horror genre. This caption may have been used as to try and attract the audience to watch the film as Jessica Alba is a famous actor.
Near the end of the teaser the close up shot showing the main actor widely holding her eye open is quite frightening as it comes across like she wants to remove her eye due to the events that have been taking place in her life because of her surgery. The zoom in shot into her eyes is quite effective as it kind of gives the impression it’s all in her eyes, also because it makes the audience wonder what is about to happen as it quickly cuts into a fade to blank transition that then shows flames of fire. The use of the fire is also anther way in which the audience can get anxious as it can be used to make them want to watch more so they find out why there is a consistency in the use of fire throughout the film.
The end of the teaser is effective as the non diegetic sound fades as the main actor approaches the door and looks through the eye hole to see who’s on the other side. This medium close up shot taken from a view angle uses low key lighting and creates tension as it makes the audience wonder what she is about to see next.
The teaser ends with her looking through the eye hole and all she can see is some smoke and then a body of a person/monster that’s covered in blood and looks as if it has been burnt is thrown towards the door. After we then see quick cuts of an eye ball, hand through a white coloured glass and a bandaged man then back to the eyeball with the title of the film beside it.
In conclusion from analysing The Eye I have come to realise that teaser trailers are not to give away the whole storyline of a film but are just like a taster to the audience that leave them wanting more. The Eye follows most of the typical horror teaser trailer conventions, therefore making it quite successful in achieving it’s aim of tempting the audience to want to go and watch more.
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