mama trailer analysis

Mama

Directed by- Andy Muschietti

Produced by- J. Miles Dale and
Bárbara Muschietti

Starring- Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse and Daniel Kash.

Release date- 18th January 2013

Genre- horror

Distributed by- Universal Pictures

Editing by- Michelle Conroi

 

 

 

 

Plot-

A loving couple learn that their two adopted nieces have brought a dark secret into their home in this foreboding domestic thriller from executive producer Guillermo del Toro, and director Andy Muschietti. Victoria and Lilly were just little girls when their father murdered their mother. In the aftermath of that tragedy, both girls disappeared without a trace. Desperate, their Uncle Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel searched everywhere for the missing girls. Five years later, Victoria and Lilly are both found living in a derelict cabin deep in the woods. Incredibly, they've managed to survive on their own, though years of isolation have left them both in a feral state, and unable to communicate. Without hesitation, Lucas and Annabel welcome the two frightened girls into their home, and work hard to make them feel comfortable. But when a series of ominous events lead Lucas and Annabel to suspect that Victoria and Lilly share ties to an evil beyond human comprehension, the couple must discern whether the two young girls are merely dealing with the emotional aftershocks of a life-altering tragedy, or have attracted a force that could destroy their family all over again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the opening shot for the teaser trailer ‘mama’ which shows the ‘universal’ logo, which automatically catches the audiences eye, as this is a worldwide, well known institution  which has been involved in distributing millions of films. This logo will get a varied and wide range of the audience interested in the film including the target audience being horror fans as all types of audience will be familiar with this conglomerate and with a wide range of their already successful films therefore drawing the audience in. As this is at the beginning of the trailer automatically gets the audience’s attention getting them hooked throughout the trailer. This shot lasts less than a couple of seconds and fades in and out of the trailer to aware the audience of the institution distributing this film and to keep the audience interested by not making this shot last long, the fading affect is added to make this shot smoothly move through the trailer connecting the trailer together.

The trailer then goes on to show shots from the film to catch the audience’s attention without letting them know the whole story so the plot isn’t given away, confusing them a little about the story line provoking them to watch the film. This shot from the trailer is at the beginning which shows a quite old, dark wooden cabin/lodge in the woods which looks abandoned; this automatically disturbs the peace of the trailer and puts the audience on edge getting their attention in the first few shots of the trailer. This shot will also connect with the fans of this genre as they will recognise a dark abandoned cabin in the woods and know it is a bad sign. This is an over the shoulder shot, which shows the audience what the subject’s can see, and shows that the subject’s are in this area.

The trailer then moves onto some writing showing who the film is presented by. The unusual, unique and quirky background in this shot catches the audience’s eye as it connects with the genre of the film and informs the audience about the film giving them some background information about it. The blackness spreading in the middle of the page already indicates darkness, death, connecting with the horror genre of the film. The font of the writing also helps with this as it is very clear and bold but connects with the rest of the shot creating an overall chilly but interesting feel to it.

 

  This is a shot which is also at the start of the trailer is a close up of two of the main characters in this film, but the look of this shot gives false hope to the audience that this is the ‘evil presence’ or the ‘monster’ in the film adding a focal point. In actual fact this figure is the two sisters in the film who have been missing and have grown up to become feral. As the children are extremely filthy, skinny and unrecognisable in this shot, it shows neglect and gives out the thought of them being the predator in the film. In the shot the older sister is crouching over the younger one as we see the younger ones head peering out, this shows that the older sister is protecting the younger one suggesting they’re alone have brought themselves up. The overall facial expressions and body language shows that these children aren’t behaving in a natural healthy way as they sit and stand on all fours; this makes them seem feral as they animal behavioural instincts. The darkness in this shot also sends out a bad presence and lets the audience know that something is not right in the beginning of the trailer, provoking them to continue watching.

 

This shot is about a quarter through the trailer showing a court room in use, automatically showing that there is conflict and something is wrong in the trailer. This adds more of a story to the trailer letting the audience in on a little bit to help them to understand a little what is going on and giving them some background information. This shot gets the audience interested in the film and lets them get to know more about the characters, helping them to be able to connect to the film.

 

This shot is about a third through the trailer and shows the two sisters getting out of a car and walking towards their new home. This shot shows that the children are scared and are unaware of their surroundings as they are very slow and cautious, and also the younger one is hiding behind her older sister showing that she seeks comfort in her and feels protected by her. This shows the close bond between the sisters as they are stood so close and are touching, it also shows the trauma they’ve has as they look very nervous and cautious about their surroundings, the way they are hanging their heads down and walking slowly also shows their nervousness and shyness, suggesting to the audience that these are disturbed girls who are not used to these ordinary surroundings. The brightness and neatness in this shot suggests a new start and makes a difference from the other dark, depressing shots shown previously in the trailer suggesting to the audience that these girls lives are going to get better and they’re going to get help.

This next shot near the middle of the trailer shows children’s drawings on the wall and this one drawing has been zoomed in on which shows this one catches the characters eye more than the others suggesting to the audience that there is something unusual and strange about this drawing, suggesting there’s something wrong. By the fact the children are drawing on the walls shows their typical nature and shows there inner child, showing normality but also shows their mischievous side and the fact they don’t live with rules or tidiness. Also this particular drawing shows a woman bending down in a strange deformed way, which worries the character as they are focusing in on this one drawing and suggesting there’s something wrong with this drawing and more so there is something wrong with the children, this automatically puts the audience on edge.

This shot is quite a long shot a little past half way through the trailer, it shows the oldest sister sat on a chair and a man talking to her opposite which suggests that she is having therapy or is being talked to about something serious, this shows the audience that something is not right and that the sisters still aren’t adapting to normal life or are still attached to their childhood cabin. The expression and body language of the girl shows that she is scared, nervous and closed up and she hangs her head, making no eye contact and holds her hands close to herself showing she isn’t confident with this conversation and shows that she is still disturbed. The facial expressions and body language of the male shows that he is trying to have a serious conversation with the girl and looks as though it is a therapy session this gets the audience even more interested. The darkness and shadows in the room also suggests something bad, and that something isn’t right giving more background information and adding more storyline to the trailer also grabbing the audience’s full attention.

 

 

This shot is towards the end of the trailer and shows the large home of their uncle’s where the two sisters have moved to. The house is shown in the darkness of the night which connects with the target audience for this film as they will know that typically in horror films night time is not when good things happen, so this shot will get the audience’s attention as they know that this is when things get scary. The darkness around the house and the dim brightness of the lights on in the house put full focus on the house suggesting something is going to happen in the house. The black in this shot also suggests evil and death too as it is a dark colour and is connected with shadows and this colour is typically connected with horror films again pointing that something bad is going to happen.

 

 

This is a close up shot towards the end of the trailer showing a dark mark spreading on the wall and something seeping out of it, this could suggest to the audience that ‘the evil’ is spreading in the house and that the children have brought this with them, which gets them on edge as horror fans know that this is when the time draws near that ‘the evil presence’ is going to make its move. This shot is generally very dark and shadowed off which also suggests that something evil is coming into the house. Also the centre of this shot where the growth is spreading is lighter than the rest of the shot adding full attention on this growth telling the audience that this is an important bit in the trailer and this sort of puddle on the wall has something to do with the scariness of the trailer.

 

This shot is near the end of the trailer where there is a range of lots of shot from the film shown in a quick slide show with very quick fast pace music to build up the tension, and also to include lots of shots from the film into the trailer but by doing only allows the audience to see a second of these shots so that they get an idea of what’s in the movie but can’t catch on fully what’s happening provoking them to watch the film. This shot is of the actual ‘spirit’ or ‘evil presence’ that’s in the film which is a little blurred as it was part of the very fast flick of pictures, this is so the audience can’t see properly what the spirit is or looks like but they get a little idea to enhance their interest to watch it. In this shot the spirit is crawling on the floor and is moving very fast and looks slightly deformed in the way she moves which tells the audience that something not right about it and that it is an evil presence. Also the background and the spirit in this shot is all black and white and grey scale and is quite dark which shows no colour to suggest there’s no hope and that this spirit isn’t nice and it also shows a darkness cast over the family, this lets the audience know that things are going bad and that this is an evil spirit.

This is one of the last shots in the trailer showing the name of the film in this case being ‘mama’ which again uses the same big, bold writing to connect the writing and the trailer together, and again the background in this shot is of the same concept, with the black spreading  in the middle of the page, which looks like the shot where the growth is spreading on the wall showing the evil coming into the house, this connects the trailer together and connects the writing with shots out of the film. This shot is placed near the very end of the trailer so that the shots and storyline of the trailer catch’s the audience’s eye and keeps them interested and makes them wait for the name of the film so they can research it and find out about the film so they can watch it.

 

 

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