THE DESCENT Theatrical Trailer

As all trailers the Descent starts off with the company logo, for this film its MPAA and Lionsgate, For legal reason they have to show this.

All of a sudden there is quick dramatic sound affect cut into a shot of girls taking a photo of each other. This shot already shows us the characters that are in the film and also by having them all girls shows a certain vulnerability which could be taken advantage of later in the film. Also while the girls photos being taken it cuts into the photo being black and white, maybe this has some sort of sign that the photo will be the last for the girls or maybe even an old photo so it might set the time of the film.

There is a fade into a bird’s eye view of a car driving through a forest with nothing around but trees. This sets the scene and also sets the mood for the film. The music to this is very quiet and seems to be building up the tension which shows us the genre of the film as it’s not a very happy starting to the trailer. With the next cuts it shows the close up the some main characters and their moods. It also again sets the scene and shows us there driving somewhere and a few of the passengers are too pleased about it.

The nest shot is a general happy mood due to the day light scene’s and shows us a simple Mes en scene. With the very quick cuts there is a collection of close up, medium and full body shots. Using these’s shots show us the characters mood and also with the body shot shows us the reason why they are there in the first place, Caving.

The dialog ‘there’s only one way out and that’s down the pipe’ and close up shot of her clicking equipment into her belt starts giving us a nervous edge and this is emphasised by the surprise loud sound affects to go with it.

The way they have used close up shots and only using the lighting from the characters head lights makes us feel very very claustrophobic and makes us feel like were in there with them not being able to breathe. Also using the long shot of the girl stuck in the cave just before the caption makes us really feel and see how small the spaces in the cave are.

The shot fades into a black background with the very small caption of ‘claustrophobia’. The reason they made the caption so small instead of big and readable was to again make you feel like you’re in a very small space, also the font size goes with the shots they are showing us in the cave. The colouring for the font is interesting as it is not a block colour. It looks like it’s the girls headlights through rocks and that there is very little light in the cave. This is a very clever way of emphasises where the characters are.

The next shot is faded in to show us nothing but black and a little bit of light, the dialog is needed here to give the shot another edge. With us seeing nothing and hearing the words ‘I’m coming to get you’ along with heavy breathing make us on edge and feel very nervous for the characters. After seeing an opening and seeing the characters face a sound affect indicates that the cave is closing in on them. So with lot of noise and sound affects we become nervous and want them to get out the cave before they get stuck.

There are more shots of the girls out the cave and also more captions in the same font and size as the ones before. The words give us an indication to what’s happening the film as well. Like the word hallucination gives us a clue that one of the characters is seeing something. The music is echoing and you can also here what sounds like someone breathing heavily but it’s not one of the girls, showing the genre of the film is starting to convey a lot more in this shot.

With the last caption ‘fear’ it flickers like a head light and the sound affects gives us a scare and shows that the trailer is going to have a turning point soon. After the caption you see the girls in very little light screaming and all of a sudden the turning point becomes very clear as you see what the characters shoulders look like a dead body over one. To empathise the turning point very loud sound affect of what sounds like some sort of monster and the girls screaming makes the audience jump and keep us on edge for the rest of the trailer.

The next few dark shots are faded in and out in time with a sound affect of a fast heartbeat. This gives us the impression that the heartbeat is the characters heartbeats scared and racing. This part of the trailer speeds up and makes us feel like we’re speeding up with them and that were there in the film. Also in the shots they add review quotes from magazines like The times which gives us a look into what experts think of the film and if we like the look of what they have said it will give us an interest to go see the rest of the film.

There’s a section in the film where everything speeds up, this section makes us very nervous and not quite understand what is happening or going to happen to the girls in the cave intresting us to go and see the whole thing.

The title is done in the same front and colouring as the captions but a little larger making us remember what it’s called. With the last shots it gives us a last impression of the film and we remember those fast,dark scary shots and cliff hangers which makes us want to go and see the film.

Devil - Official Trailer [HD]

As all film trailers it starts off with the logos of the company’s involved in the film. This includes Universal, MRC and also chronicles which are all huge contributors of making the film Devil and other productions.

The first is what looks like the camera is scanning across the sea but there is no main focus so this shot makes us feel very dizzy, and this is also the opening scène is the actual film. Then all of a sudden the camera tilts upwards to show what looks like New York sky line but upside down. I feel that the reason they have put the skyline upside down is because everything is going to go wrong and maybe its not an ordinary day.
The first caption reads ‘On an ordinary day’. This is just establishing that there is nothing going on that anyone knows about just yet but also doesn’t give to much away. The music is very quite and again doesn’t give to much away yet setting up the tension for later in the trailer.

This is a very quick cut into a woman walking across a reception. The mes-en scène shows us that they are obviously in a work place in the city and by the way she is walking very confidently through the reception it seems like she works there. The words ‘do I look like such a threat’ gives us a little insight into who may be the attacker or who may be dangerous and they may be covering it up. She seems like a Fanfatale innocent on the outside but not so angelic on the inside.

As the same music carries on the next caption says ‘Our life’s are filled’ and the then next ‘With chances encountered’, ‘And random Events’ , ‘But Today’, this gives us an idea that the film is based on chances and maybe destiny.

The shots of 5 men and woman fade in and out showing different expressions and camera angles. This shows us the main characters and a little about there background by the clothes there wearing, the confidence they have in this certain building. Then there is another slow fades shot into a man and women turning around looking into an open lift.

The next shot shows the four main characters in the lift while the lift is closing but as the doors are closing someone says ‘could you hold that please’. As the man in the suit says sorry there’s no room the other man we see saw earlier hold the door with his hand and his response sarcastically ‘thanks for your help’ already makes tension between the characters in the group.
The same music is still playing to keep the quiet atmosphere going.

After another caption the camera looks like it fly’s into the building air vent from the top of the sky scrapper. This is a very clever and different angle to use in a trailer which is always good as it gives us a different dimension to the screen. The camera shot keeps going through the vent and into the slot for the lift. The words ‘everything, happens, for, a, reason’ appear across the lift and as we go through or pass the words we come into the same lift with the same characters as before.
The music cuts as we arrive in the lift and see that the lift breaks down. This is the turning point in the trailer and makes us feel the genre of the film (Horror). The quick cut into a low angle of the building in what looks like a storm coming again shows us that something unkind is about to arrive just like a storm.

The film directors are clever by showing that the lift that is stuck is the 6th lift, and the saying going that the devil comes through the 666 so this is a very interesting way to show the devil is among them without being obvious way.

The director fades some of the characters faces in the cuts and then they have a black out where a sound effect comes in. This sound affect makes the audience a little on edge and then the lights come on and a dazed young woman seems hurts, this is another turning point to the trailer where everything starts going wrong.

The trailer leads onto the other passengers suspecting one man into thinking he was the one that hurt the girl which give the audience something to think about and keep the story line as a surprises as in the film it doesn’t turn out to be him. A few shots of the outside building in the storm enhance the bad atmosphere in the trailer, also the mid shots of the lift not being able to open shows that the characters are not going anywhere soon.

The captions ‘One of theses five people aren’t who they say they are’ gives us an indication that its one of the main characters and nothing outside. This makes the audience suspect each and every one of them while they watch the trailer and film. This is a good way of showing the audience that it won’t just be an obvious story line.

The music kicks in at some point and also the cuts get a lot shorter so that they don’t tell the whole story line in the trailer. The shots show us that its everyone for them self in that lift, there’s nothing or no one to help them. The horror genre really conveys at this fast turning point of the trailer.

The best part of the trailer for me is when they use the sound effects of the lift to change the fading shots. This is a really clever part of the film as it makes the audience feel that the trailer is slowing and claming down when its really just building up the suspense

With a trailer you always remember the first and last shot and I feel that with the last shot the audience will really remember this as it makes you jump because it’s so unexpected after a quiet few shots before.

The whole devil trailer is good by the way they use there music, shots and sound affects to capture the audience.

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Freytag's Pyramid Structure.

According to Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts, or acts,which some refer to as a dramatic arc: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement.

Although Freytag's analysis of dramatic structure is based on five-act plays, it can be applied (sometimes in a modified manner) to short stories and novels as well. Nonetheless the pyramid is not always easy to use, especially in modern plays such as Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy", which is actually divided into 25 scenes without concrete acts.

]Exposition

The exposition provides the background information needed to properly understand the story, such as the protagonist, the antagonist, the basic conflict, and the setting. It ends with the inciting moment, which is the incident without which there would be no story. The inciting moment sets the remainder of the story in motion beginning with the second act, the rising action. While the exposition may employ the rhetorical mode also known as exposition, the two are not perfectly synonymous.

]
rising action

During rising action, the basic internal conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist's attempt to reach his goal. Secondary conflicts can include adversaries of lesser importance than the story’s antagonist, who may work with the antagonist or separately, by and for themselves or actions unknown.

Climax

The third act is that of the climax, or turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.

Falling action

During the falling action, or resolution, which is the moment of reversal after the climax, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist. The falling action might contain a moment of final suspense, during which the final outcome of the conflict is in doubt. Which is also the outcome of what happened in the rising action and the climax.Summery: The falling action is that part of the story were the main part (the climax) has finished and you're heading to the conclusion.