Deconstruction Of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) Trailer

Below, I have deconstructed the teaser trailer of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2003). As my group and I are producing a teaser trailer for a slasher, I will be selecting ideas to use for inspiration from this teaser trailer. 
 

Mise En Scene, Cinematography And Editing

• The teaser begins with a medium close up shot of the production company, 'New Line Cinema'. 
• The medium close up effectively establishes the company, notifying the audience who produced the film.

• The trailer denotes a low angle, medium close up of some of the characters in the film. Through the medium close up, the audience can examine the psychical characteristics of the characters. The audience can identify the cast are teenagers.
• Having teenagers in a slasher as the victims, is a common convention which the film has conformed to.

• A long shot of a house is denoted, at a low angle. The long shot enables audience to look at the house from a bird's eye view and from this, the audience can note the house doesn't seem very appealing. Editing of the grey visual effect visually signifies the house's gloomy connotations. 
• The low angle makes the house dominant. Perhaps, the purpose of this, is to achieve the idea of the house having control over the victims. 

• The long shot effectively denotes the juxtaposition between the different levels, of the girl and the house. Furthermore, the dominant house makes the girl appear small, building on this idea of her being a victim.
• The shot displays the tree slightly covering the house, which could connote the idea of the house being restricted, and for not available for anyone to enter. Therefore, the teaser conveys the theme of the house being the location of terror. 

• Low key lighting is a convention the teaser trailer has conformed to. The lighting is very conventional of the slasher genre, as connotations of horror, terror and fear are brought. 
• The image below has also used back lighting, which brings the girl out more. The mise en scene signifies she is made herself vulnerable to the killer, after entering the house. 



• The medium close up denotes the characters' terrified facial expressions. Seeing characters scream in a horror trailer is quite typical. 



• The close up denotes the killer's chainsaw, which gives the audience a clue to the sub-genre, a slasher. Camera movement has been used, the zoom into the weapon fulfils audience expectations, as audience members who know the sub-genre would expect to see focus on weapons.

• Towards the end, editing is used with the use of a freeze frame denoting the killer. The freeze frame effectively fulfils audience pleasures as the audience get a glimpse of the killer's face.
• A tilt is used before the freeze frame, signifying the killer is viscous and possessive over those he receives his hands on.

• The film title is displayed at the end, which is conventional tool of a teaser trailer.



Sound

• The diegetic voice over at the enables the audience to build their understanding of the narrative. This can fulfil audience pleasures, as the audience would then have a basic understand of the film's plot.
• The first freeze frame is followed by a non-diegetic sound from the original film's opening, which orally signifies suspicion and eeriness.
• Non-diegetic music in the background (between 0.11s and 0.15s) begins to increase in volume. The music begins to raise awareness, as the audience may begin to think something bad may happen, through the eerie tone the music carries.
• At 0.15s, a non-diegetic bang is used to shock the audience (audience positioning). The audience also hear on-screen diegetic sounds of screams which effectively builds the climax.

The teaser trailer follows the typical conventional tools of a teaser trailer e.g. by having the production company at the beginnning and finishing with the film title. Throughout, the teaser denotes shots conventional of the sub-genre, slasher, making sure the sub-genre has been thourouhgly represented. This is achieved for example through shots which display the chainsaw. One thing the teaser does not do however, is display title cards of the actors' names. I thought this was a useful tool in ensuring the audiences' attention was constantly focused on the climax throughout the trailer.

 

Ideas To Use

• Having our production company at the beginning, and film name at the end - conventional teaser trailer tools.
• Not displaying the actors' names in order to keep our audience focused on the activity.
• Long shots of the house we will use, to fully portray the house's horror theme.
• Using lots of low key lighting in the house to visually signify fear and horror.
• Using close ups to denote our character's facial expressions, especially for when they scream.
• Extreme close ups can be used to focus our audiences' attention towards the weapons.

Ideas To Subvert

• Not using a voice over for our narrative, but instead having title cards giving our audience a brief insight into the plot.
• This will also help to create more suspense in our trailer, especially through the use of colour and font.