THE POSSESSION Trailer analysis

PLOTAt the start of the possession trailer we follow a separated couple and how their daughters time is spent with each

one of 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 am 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 take her over more. 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 to 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 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.

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.

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 the 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 and 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

be 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.

SOUND