THE POSSESSION Trailer analysis

PLOTAt the start of the possession trailer we follow a separated couple and how their daughters time is split between

them. We follow the child’s (Em, short for Emily) everyday life. From watching the first 18 seconds of this trailer,

we get the perception that the dad likes to be the favourite parent. He does everything the mother has pacifically

told him not to do, for example order pizza. As the trailer progresses we can see that the dad and Em have a good

relationship. 24 seconds into the trailer Em and her dad go to a garage sale and she buys an old box. When they

take it home, weird movements from the box start to happen which intrigues Em, she later then opens it and starts

investigating the pieces inside. Em later starts acting reserved and starts to distance herself away from everyone.

Her concerned parents then start trying to understand why she is acting this way. Later on when they have dinner,

Em starts to get angry stabbing away at her plate and then goes for her dad. Her dad later makes the connection

that her actions must have something to do with the box she brought, so decides to take it to a priest in order to

get answers. They warn him that she is slowly being taken over by and evil spirit and they have to act fast in order

to save her. After her actions get out of control and her behaviour starts to worsen and get more aggressive they

decide to seek medical help. After having an x-ray this is when they see that the spirit inside of her. Despite

medical help and help from the priest nothing seems to work and the evil spirit inside of her only seems to get

stronger. At the end of the trailer we see her mouth and fingers which look like they are coming out of her throat,

this later conforms our suspicion she is being possessed. We are not given any indication into whether she is

saved/dies or carries on being possessed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40

WHAT I ANALYSEDThere are 138 edits in the possession trailer

There are 23 separate locations

160 clips

Quick pace of editing : About 56 seconds into the trailer we get a quick pace

of editing as Em deteriorates. At 1.14 we get more quick pace of editing as her

actions become more aggressive. At 1.42 when she is taken to the hospital and

the spirit is effecting the computers there is a quick pace of editing to show the

disturbance and how much power this spirit has. At 2.06 there is more quick

pace of editing because it is showing how worse she is getting and all the

consequences of her actions. It is also to try and give the audience snap shots of

what’s to come without giving too much away.

Characters: In the possession the main characters are the mum and dad of the

girl and the girl (Em) who is the victim.

OTHER FEATURES

At the end of the trailer it tells you who presents the film. For example in

this case it says ‘Sam Raimi presents The Possession’

The title is also shown at the end of the film purposely for effect. This is

also done so you have to watch the whole trailer to find out what the film is

about.

Also at the end we get the name ‘Lionsgate’ and which other films they

have made. For example in this instance they have also made ‘Ghost House’

This information is at the end of the trailer because it is not that relevant

that it needs to be at the front, the purpose of this being there is so people

are able to relate to this. Also if they liked Ghost House they may like The

Possession as they are made by the same company.

We are not told who is featured in the possession, this may be because there is nobody

famous in the film. Sometimes this is done for effect, to give us a sense of ‘normality’

and to make it realistic.

In the possession there is no voice over, this is because the music and the characters

featuring in the film tell the story. Also the use of the cuts and camera movements

heighten our scare factor so that a voice over is not needed.

At the end of the possession trailer we are told that ‘coming soon’ we are also given a

facebook link in which we can go on to find more information about the film/trailer. We

are also told who it is written by, in this case it is ‘Juliet Snowdon and Stiles white’

The unique selling point in the possession is the fact that we are not shown that the

little girl survives the possession.

In the possession I was able to determine the genre of the trailer 24 seconds in because

the music is spooky and the fact that Em picked up a box, connoted to me that

something bad was going to happen.

OTHER FEATURES

WHAT WE SEE/EXPECT

The film The Possession is classed as a

‘supernatural horror film’ which was directed by Ole

Bornadal. When we think of ‘Supernatural horror

films’ we expect them to be about ghosts and evil

spirits. Normally a church and a priest are featured

in them as well. This genre normally targets children

as they are more vulnerable and this makes it more

scary.

Child (girl)

Evil spirit

Blood

Wind

Darkness

Hospitals

Church

Priest

Concerned parents

Screams

HORROR CONVENTIONS

HOW IT FITS THE GENRE

From watching the trailer I can tell that ‘The possession’ fits some of the features

we expect to see in a supernatural horror film. A little girl is possessed by an evil

spirit and goes to see a priest, this fits our expectations that this film will feature a

young child, that a priest or a church will be included and that an evil spirit will

feature. Also as Ems behaviour starts to become more intensive there is a quick

pace of editing to show us all the things that are happening to her. This is done to

scare us more because it is showing us quickly all the different events that are

happening to her, this also fits the expectations of a horror film. When Em starts to

become aggressive towards her mother, the lighting is very dark, this tells us as an

audience something bad is going to happen. When we see darkness we expect

something scary to happen and this is how this event also fits our expectations.

At the start of the possession trailer the girl Em, that is the victim is

dressed in casual clothes, we can tell from this that she expresses her

personality through her clothes. When the evil spirit begins possessing

her clothes become plain, which is reflecting her effort in life. When Em

becomes at her worst she is standing in the middle of the road in a white

nightie, her hair looks wet and straggly, these are all typical conventions

we expect when we think of ‘possession’ .The fact that Em is normally in

white signifies her innocence and how she is just a normal girl at heart

but this has spirit inside of her has changed this. She also has a few grey

outfits, grey signifies coldness.

MIS-EN-SCENE

At the start of the trailer the music seems almost like what you would expect to hear at the

beginning of a fairy-tale, this follows our equilibrium for the story. Later when Em goes to the

garage sale the spooky music starts which immediately raises or suspicions which tells us

something bad is going to happen. When Em opens the box it sounds like a large heart beating

really loudly, this also raises our suspicions that something is going to happen. We think this

because when you heart races fast it can represent that you are scared. After Em has opened

the box we get flash clips of her life and as we see these we hear her fork scrape against her

plate. Then when Em strikes her dad we hear thunder, this is to represent that what Em has

done is a vicious act and how she is changing. From 1.31, all of Ems actions are put high in the

sound mix, to make them more exaggerative and to make the audience aware of them. The lead

up to us going into Ems room, we hear a whispering chant which almost comes across ‘devilish’

When we go inside her room and see birds, we hear their wings flying around, this has been put

high in the sound mix as well to emphasise how they are not meant to be in her room and also

the amount of them. When Ems dad reads her a story we can hear how frightened he is by his

voice. While he is reading this there are smashes and bangs in the background, this is to

emphasises that Em doesn’t like what he has to say. Towards the end when we are getting clips

and quick cuts of what is happening in Ems life, religious music is played. It sounds like a high

pitched women's voice, this could link in with the idea of her being possessed. Towards the end

when we see Em looking into her mouth we get a deep voice which is to represent the demons

fingers in her throat. To finish the trailer the devilish chants start again, this is to link in with

the fingers we have just seen.

SOUND

All of these sounds such as ‘screams’ ‘devilish

whispers’ and thuds all make up the conventions of a

typical horror movie. They add to the story and make

it more realistic and scary. These are the clues we

get to distinguish this is a horror.

SOUND