Textual Analysis of Carrie Trailer

Textual
Analysis of
Carrie,
Movie
Trailer.
Will Kearse

The Genre
This 2013 remake of the original 1974 version is
a horror story surrounding the young Carrie
white.
We can tell it is of the horror genre as it
contains certain iconography usually associated
with the typical genre. It contains themes like
religion and demonic possession and also has
typical aspects like a house or area of safety, but
in this instance no wear is safe. Another
common factor telling the audience that it is a
horror is that it involves a sort of innocents, in
this case it is Carrie herself but usually it is a
family with young children. As then there is the
contrast between good and evil making the
horror even more effective on the viewer.

The
Narrative
The story is of a young girl named Carrie White, who lives with her deeply
religious mother in the a typical suburban house, in America. She is portrayed
as having some sort of power, maybe due to a demonic presence or something
holy. She is constantly treated as an outcast amounts her peers, and so bullied
and tormented for it.
The story follows her through high school, dealing with the bullying, the almost
sadistic beliefs of her mother and trying to discover the truth behind why she is
so different, and how she can control it. The trailer gives us little clues about the
reasoning behind her abilities, it only shows us how over time she becomes able
to use them more easily. And how she is trying to understand and search for
answers. All whilst surviving high school.

Camera
angles/shots,
Diegetic and Non-
Diegetic sound,
dialogue, pace and
special effects.

The opening shot is of the trailer is an establishing long shot of a typical American suburban house.
Which fades in using editing. The fade in effect being a common trait of horror trailer. The camera pans
up and slowly fades to black again. This slow transition of shot creates a peaceful, tranquil setting for
the viewer. This gives the starting equilibrium which is at this moment stable.
This serves the purpose of establishing the location of the story, or the home of the main character.
More importantly in this section is the sounds in the background. Edited over are the sounds of birds
tweeting in the background, another common trait with horror or thriller movies to lure the viewer into
a false sense of security to make the scares, or more suspenseful shots of the trailer even more
effective. Also in the Diegetic sound we hear a mothers voice singing what sounds like a lullaby. But
when listened to closely, she says the words “Our fathers mercy” which can be linked to maybe religious
themes
in the movie. This sound of her singing continues over to the next shot when the screen fades to black.

The trailer also uses interties to tell the story “In every neighbourhood there is one
family” fades in on the black screen, with a slow zoom. This text is cleaver in the sense
that it makes the view think about their own street, in their own town. This is a way of
connecting with the viewer to draw them in closer to the trailer. When relating to the
movie its saying that in every street there are secrets and horrors that should never be
uncovered.
The suspense in the trailer begins to increase, as the viewer is now intrigued to what
the meaning behind this is. And questions begin to form, creating a code of enigma
that need answers.

Editing then fades into the next shot which is tracking through a part of the house seen in the last
shot. Unlike the previous establishing shot of the house, this one is a lot darker, we see the
curtains drawn with little natural light being let in, and some props including a cross, linking to
the religious themes in the movie. But the house alone shows no noticeable differences than that
to the average family home. Again like the shot before it fades to black.
During this shot the singing from the mother continues, but then we are introduced to another
diegetic sound of screaming. This starts quietly and builds through the shot, carrying on through
and even when the shot fades to black the two sounds continue. Then, much like the second shot
in the black screen text is edited in to again break the two shots of the home. This time it reads
“With a secret”, adding to the original text and the sounds and visuals given the view now starts
to see the shift in equilibrium to a more unstable negative spectrum.

The next shot fades in from the text to the same
dark room but now with the woman who was
singing the lullaby. The camera pans upwards at
an angle to the woman. Before reaching her
face we see she is cutting up some ragged
pieces of paper, this suggests that she almost
has a sadistic nature, that something is making
her ignore her daughters screams for help, and
instead sing softly to herself while performing
seemingly normal tasks. Editing then cuts this to
the woman's face which the camera tracks
around as she is cutting the paper.
Again between the shots another fade to black
with text, now reading “No one talks about”
which when added to the other two forms the
sentence. “In every neighbourhood there is one
family that no one talks about.”

Towards the end of the edited in text we
begin to hear banging, adding to the two
diegetic sounds, which follows through to
the next shot which is a medium close up of
a door as the camera tracks in on it cuts to
the next shot which is a close up angled
shot of the padlock on the door, which is
violently being hit against on the other side.
The camera cuts quickly zooming further in
on the padlock in time with the sounds.
Shortly increasing the trailer pace.
Along with the banging from the first shot of
the door, to the next, the woman's soft
voice fades out, leaving just the girls
screams, the banging and also an added no-diegetic
sound. This occurs in time with the
bangs against the door and intensifies the
sound which is probably produced by a
synth. The editor has done this to disrupt
the equilibrium further, as it gives a feel of
increased speed to the section with the fast
banging, quick cutting between shots and
louder edited in sound.

Cutting to black the production companies and studio
used to produce the film fade in on screen for a few
seconds then fading out to another establishing shot.
This time it is of a public school, we can see this by the
front end of a school bus appearing in the left hand
side of the shot, with a large intimidating building
centre with children walking beneath. The main sound
track for the trailer begins here, which is composed of
synth and electric guitar plucking single notes in a
clean non distorted sound.
The camera cuts to the next shot of which is the
mother and daughter in the car with the camera on
the daughters side as she gives her a kiss on the
cheek. It cuts again to the medium shot on the
opposite side of the car showing the daughter leaving
the car to go to school. The atmosphere in these shots
shows that the mother and daughter relationship is
under threat due to some sort of demon or religious
reason possessing the young girl, but we see that she
kisses her on the cheek showing she does love her and
that locking her away was for her own safety.

We are then introduced to the school in which she attends. The opening shot being a tracking medium
shot following her through the halls of the school. We see from this shot that it is set in the modern
day as the costume of the teenagers and Carrie suggests so. We see her clutching her bag tightly as if
she is nervous and she has her head slightly down as if not to attract attention to herself. But unknown
to the viewer is why she is like this, as the two teenagers, on male and one female, are laughing at her.
Suggesting that maybe she is an outcast or has been humiliated or is different to the rest and so is
ridiculed for it.
Over this shot we hear the diegetic voice over of Carrie from another shot in the movie saying “The
other kids, they think I'm weird” even though she seems like the average teenage girl when in public.

The next scene fades in with the same theme music in the background of guitar. Starting
with a medium close up eye line match of Carrie in class. Who is being questioned by
her teacher also shown in a medium long shot eye line match. It then cuts to the two
girls laughing at her, again suggesting she is an outcast.
Cutting to the next scene we see two students of the
school making out, whilst the diegetic voice of Carrie
saying “I want to be normal” “Before its too late” So
we can take from these hints that the film revolves
around her trying to fit in amongst her "normal” peers.
Having friends, relationships etc. And if this doesn’t
happen then she knows that she will eventually snap.
Then cutting to a medium two shot of Carrie and one of
her classmates, who intimidates her by getting right up
in her face and says “wipe that grin of your face.”
Through the majority of the middle section, the camera
angles, shots and meaning behind the story shown,
remains the same. We see Carrie constantly being
laughed at and humiliated and slowly getting more and
more aggressive due to this.

The next few scenes follow the same
structure, when in one location they cut
between shot but when switching they fade to
black then back in. The shots that follow are of
Carrie being humiliated by her school mates,
for instance in the shower rooms where they
take a video of her. In a wide medium shot.
And again in the sequence we see that her
mother although seems as if she is harming
her daughter is only trying to help her as we
can see in this low angle tracking shot after
the changing room incident.
The equilibrium in this trailer does not follow
the typical trend set by others of its similar
genre, The thriller or Horror. It rapidly changes
throughout, aided by sound and editing that
cuts between shots quickly. It is very effective
on the viewer as we can see the two sides to
the character, the one being the girl who just
wants to be normal and fit in and the other
that is angry and wants to find out why she is
like the way she is.

at this point in the trailer where Carries mother is quoting the bible to her. Carrie is shown at a
high angle when compared to her mother which is shown through a low angled shot. This shows
that although her mother has more authority over her, being the mother, Carrie has the power
over her, due to her ablilities And again her mother reduces to locking her in the closet, which
Carrie fights against. “Go to your closet and pray” At this point. The non diegetic soundtrack stops
completely when the door is opened and Carrie is forced inside.
Instead it is replaced by a slow pace drum beat, with a reverbed effect to make the sound
echo. And from this point this beat continues, not growing faster but slowly adding in
more sound like singing, which the words are hard to make out but it creates a eerie feel,
and the pace building towards the end is created by the cuts alone.

As the trailer moves on we start
to see these two sides to Carrie
become closer and closer. In
one shot we see a close up of
her face, smiling with a light
peaceful background, creating a
more positive mood. But then it
cuts to quick short shots of her
at prom night destroying the
hall and sending people flying
through the air.
We see the transition between this kind
hearted young woman to this hate filled
teenager who just wants revenge for
humiliation and bullying she received.

Other shots that show significance in the trailer include this close up of Jesus on the
cross, as blood runs down the statue. This tells the viewer that there are definite
religious themes in the movie and the cause behind this girl having the powers and
abilities she has is maybe because of some sort of demon or higher being
possessing or giving her these gifts.
The most commonly used camera shot in this trailer would be the medium shots of
the pupils, Carrie and her mother. Another common camera shot or technique in
the trailer is a panning or tracking movement around the characters and locations.

Towards the end of the trailer we are
introduced to the actors and actresses
who play the lead roles followed by a
shot of them, for example a close up of
Carries mother. Also the pace of the
cutting and transition between shots
becomes quicker, but does not follow a
set beat. Instead it occasionally slows
down but speeds up again, this can be
seen in the final shot of Carrie
surrounded by flames, the camera cuts
multiple times in the same shot each
time getting closer.

The trailer ends on the title “Carrie” which fades in and out. The font and
colour of the text represent quite a calm peaceful feel maybe relating to
Carries innocents as a young teenager. But then the white text is then
joined with blood dripping of the letters highlighting the malevolent side
to Carrie that is released.

Code of
Enigma
How does the trailer excite or hook the audience? And what is its
unique selling points?
The film features well know actresses such as Julianne Moore, and in
particular Chloe Grace Moretz, who plays the leading role. She has
been the lead in other big films like Kick Ass, and Kick Ass 2. And so
she is well known amongst the target audience which is teenage,
maybe 18-25 year olds. This can also be seen as its unique selling
point, but that which will make people come to watch the film will
most likely be paying to see it as it is a remake of the classic based of
a book written by one of the biggest names in horror, Stephen King.
Also the trailer does a good job of giving the viewer enough action
and mystery without giving away all the story. This means the viewer
has unanswered questions that can only be solved by watching the
movie.

Shots in trailer?
Due to the fast cuts towards the end of the trailer I counted 110 Shots.
How long is the trailer?
The trailer is 2.35 minutes, slightly longer than the average horror trailers that are from
1.45 to 2.10 usually. This may be due to the editors wanting to show as much action
and thrills in the trailer as possible to draw a larger audience.
The mood and expectations of the film?
From the trailer the view will expect the film to involve a side of mystery and discovery.
Also the flashes of carnage towards the end show a side of action and thrills to the
movie, so the trailer tends to people of different tastes.
Why has the film studio used a trailer to advertise the film?
A film trailer is most effective as it engages the view more than a magazine article or
radio trailer. It offers visuals, so a sneak peek into what the film will contain, and does
not require the view to read or apply effort to see.

Textual Analysis of Carrie Trailer

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Textual Analysis of Carrie Trailer

Recently uploaded

Textual Analysis of Carrie Trailer