Trailer Analysis: Hide and Seek

With regards to the trailer for the psychological horror, Hide and Seek, there are many factors which signal genre and sub-genre. The trailer starts off with a birds-eye-view shot of what appears to be New York City. It then follows with a pan shot, following a car driving on a bridge, which is heading as if it is getting away from the busy city – it could be argued that this beginning signals the fact that the film is a horror, as conventionally, horror trailers (for example, Orphan) start with the idea of characters going elsewhere, or beginning a ‘fresh start’. Therefore, horror fans within the audience will see the panning shot of the car, and automatically link it to the genre. A few shots after this, we see an overhead/birds-eye-view shot which helps to establish the new environment; we see the car driving through a desolate and cold forest type setting, in which the trees are extremely bare, along with the branches/trunks of the trees looking extremely dark. This subtly hints to the audience that this is the beginning of a horrible journey when it comes to the characters lives – they have gone from the glamour and hope of the city to a bleak and lonely countryside setting. This is also added to by the fact that New York is commonly featured in feel-good movies, such as rom-coms and Christmas movies, whilst dark forests feature in horror movies – the extreme contrast represents how the characters are transitioning in their life. In between and after the establishing birds-eye-view shots, we see Robert DeNiro’s character, David, explaining to a colleague that he is moving away with his daughter, confirming the audience’s suspicions. The audience learn more from him about how he and his daughter, Emily, have just been through a “traumatic experience”, and that David wants to be a “full-time dad”, thus hinting at the fact that Emily’s mother/David’s partner, has just died, and therefore confirming the ‘fresh start’ that the audience predict – however – the “trauma” will not end with the move.
 

Mise-en-scene elements which feature around this point in the trailer tell us a lot about the characters; the first time we see David, he is speaking to his colleague, and is in a smart suit and tie combination and glasses – he appears very clean shaven. We can tell the woman he is speaking to is his colleague as she is in a white lab coat with minimal make-up and her hair tied up; he is obviously a professional and intelligent man with a well-paid job. The audience can therefore judge that he is a trustworthy character, who is not the villain (however, this isn’t true – the representation of David from the start decieves the audience). Once his daughter’s name, Emily, is mentioned by his colleague, we see a shot of a innocent-looking little girl peering out of a car window into the sunlight – since her name is mentioned as the shot appears, the audience naturally assumes that the girl in the shot is Emily, (this is a common feature of trailers).  She has pale skin and dark hair, and doesn’t make direct address with the audience, which connotes a vulnerable child-like image of her for the audience. This representation is upheld, until 45 seconds in – from then on, she is seen as the antagonist in the trailer, even though she in fact, is not. Iconography which features in the trailer helps to change her innocent representation – she is seen on a roundabout clutching onto what looks like an old china doll. A convention of horror trailers and horror films in general is that they tend to turn innocent objects sinister and the trailer for Hide and Seek demonstrates this convention effectively – it is common for people to be scared of dolls (especially after watching horror films) and the doll that the camera zooms in on is particularly scary as it features a prominent use of red accessories on the dolls clothing, which at a glance, could be mistaken for blood; red also symbolises danger.

The trailer itself is very ambiguous; it misleads the audience into believing that the young child, Emily, is the antagonist, when infact the antagonist is her father, David, and he is portrayed as the protagonist. The ambiguity is also added to with the lack of straps – the only text which appears on screen is at the very end of the trailer, just before the anti-climatic sting, which after stating the name of the film, reveals the stapline of the film (“if you want to know the secret, you have to play the game”) and also entices the audience to watch the film – they will want to know exactly what ‘secret’ and ‘game’ the trailer is talking about. Therefore it could be argued that, although the lack of straps adds more ambiguity to the trailer, the minimal use of text, and ambiguity in itself, helps in order to draw in the audience and encourage them to watch the film. The text which features is presented in a serif font, and some is of a blue colour whilst the key words (such as “the game”, “the secret” and the title of the film itself) are in a white font, helping the audience remember key parts of the trailer/what the film is about. The fact that some text is blue represents the fact that the plot of the film is very dark and gloomy, since blue is symbolic of sadness, whilst the dark background it is contrasted against also reinforces the fact that the genre of the film being promoted is horror. 

The editing of the trailer is extremely conventional of horror trailers when it comes to structure, speed, and cuts. Firstly, the trailer presents Todorov's structure in chronological order (equilibrium, disruption, reaction and repair, new equilibrium), without the 'repair' or 'new equilibrium' - a convention of film trailers in general. This works in order to entice the audience; they will have built up expectations, predictions and wishes for the ending of the film (the reaction and repair) but will have to go out and see it in order to see if their predictions/wishes are true. The trailer starts off relatively slow, and pace builds up after a certain point (45 secs) where cuts become quicker and shots become more frantic. It should also be noted that shots become much more unusual as the trailer progresses; at 0:54 we see a point of view shot, from David's perspective. It goes from a high angle shot of the bathtub, to a medium shot of Emily stood in the door frame, however, the shot doesn't cut - it simply pans extremely quickly, almost mimicking how quickly someone would turn around when they are scared (i.e. if they were home alone and heard a noise). There are also a lot of fades which feature within the trailer, which could be symbolic of the descend into darkness that the family will face at the hands of the antagonist - a grisly end is inevitable. The build up of pace, along with the fast montage, towards the end, and the sting, is very conventional of horrors; the audience feel as if they are on a journey with the characters, and the build up of pace in the trailer relates to the audience's build up of curiosity and tension. However, the trailer's editing is unconventional in the sense that the 'sting' isn't like a usual sting - we do not have a jumpy moment, although we brace ourselves for it. This adds an element of uniqueness to the wholly conventional trailer; the audience will be more intrigued, and will notice it is less predictable when compared to other horrors, and therefore works in drawing in the audience to come and see the film.

Like many other horror movie trailers, the non-diegetic sound heightens the impact of the action on screen within the trailer. At the beginning of the trailer, during the equilibrium, a slow paced piano tune is played - it sounds beautiful, fresh and original, and gives a sense of hope and happiness to the trailer. However, at the turning point, of 45 seconds in, the sound suddenly builds up and a stab occurs - this signals the evilness that is about to commence in the trailer; there is no hope for the family anymore. After this, there are a few smaller stabs, but the sound tends to go from either quiet and calm, to sudden and loud. Therefore the sound helps grab the audience's attention in the trailer, and heightens the fear factor. Diegetic sound which features is mainly dialogue - for example "come out come out whereever you are" is said very quietly by Emily, towards the end of the trailer. This not only links to the title, but also links to earlier on in the trailer, when the innocent china doll was made to look sinister - a convention of horrors, which is again demonstrated here. This could be argued to be what misleads the audience into thinking that Emily is the antagonist, when actually, she is not.

It is in this way that the trailer for Hide and Seek makes use of and breaks horror trailer conventions in order to attract the correct audience in the right way.