Hide and Seek (trailer) - Analysis

To help us with creating our opening we decided to look at the film hide and seek as we believe this opening is similar to ours in some ways so we wanted to see what make this one so successful .



Sound - this trailer starts off with slow piano music as we are introduced to the small girl. As the dialogue emerges the piano music gets quieter. As the pace of the trailer speeds up the music introduces some strong sting elements which adds to the suspense. Also there are some effects added in such as sound when the titles come on, and laughing in the background. There is also some diegetic sound to add drama to some aspects, such as the wardrobe opening. In this trailer the action is built up thought the music and draws to a close at the end with the little girl saying 'come out, come out, where ever you are' this is a twisted version of the innocent game children play.

Editing - in this trailer the editing is used effectively to create pace and tensions. Firstly the edits are slow, with the use of gradual fade in and out. All the time the audience is preparing for a climax. The Audience are teased as the edits quicken at one point in the shower scene, yet slow right down when the girl is in the bed. The audience is expecting a rush of action but is not sure when this will happen. The titles are introduced and this is when the fast pace of editing is introduced, with sudden flashes.

Camera Shots/Movement - A typical convention of a thriller is to have lot's of different camera angles, movements and shot. In this trailer there is no exception. It starts of with close up shots, changing to a point of view shot of the girl looking into the sky. This then switches to a high angle shot looking down on the girl on the round-a-bout. Through the conversations there is two shots, reverse angle, and eye line matches. As the pace quickens there is a mixture of long shots, medium shots, close ups and two shots. There are some fast tracking shots to the door of the action which is effective to build tension in a short space of time. The final shot is a low angle shot from the basement up to the door at which the little girl is standing and i think this is effective as it positions the audience in the basement where 'Charlie' is meant to be hiding.

Lighting - to start with this piece starts outside in a park where it is bright, this is when the girl is alone and symbolises her innocent and purity. As the trailer continues it is clear to see how the lighting changes, as the evil is presented low key lighting is used to create a dark effect nearly all of the time. The is darkness especially when more of the horror is shown such as the shower scene, and the cave scene. Also candles are used when the writing in blood is being shown on the bathroom wall to create tension. The final shot in particular shows how lighting is used as the basement is dark and the frame is only lit by the light shining through the door the little girl is looking though, maybe to show she holds all the answers.

Character - the little girl is the main character here and i feel at the beginning she represents innocence as she is on the park, as the story continues though there is a twist as in fact, this pale skinned girl, shows signs of evil and being twisted.

We wanted to use some of these elements when creating our piece, for example the park scene showing the girls innocence. Also we wanted to use the idea of switching between light and dark to symbolise good and evil in our opening. The main character in our piece would also be a little girl so wanted to create something similar to who is in this film. All of these ideas help us to make our opening successful and make it work aswell as this trailer does.