Saw 1 trailer analysis

1. Audience:
The audience in which this horror film is aimed at are 18 year olds and
above. This age rating is suited for the genre and type of film as there
are gruesome scenes with lots of blood and disturbing scenes. For any
viewers below the age rating, they would be unsettled by the scenes
within the film.
Genre:
The genre for this films is a horror, but more
specifically a slashes/gore film. It is classed as a gore
as there is lots of blood and incidents involved
which are disturbing. It is also a gore as there are
lots of deaths. The many deaths also link to the
genre of slasher horror. Slasher is the idea of a
number of murders Although they are not
murdered directly themselves the idea of them
finding a way to kill themselves links to the slasher
theme.
Movie release date: October 1st 2004
Genre: Horror
Director: James Wan

2. Mise-En-Scene:
Lighting- At the beginning of the trailer and throughout the majority of the trailer the
lightning is very dark. The use of dark lighting helps to build suspense and also scares the
viewer as they become paranoid that something may suddenly appear on the screen. It
also reflects with the genre of the movie as you assume that horror movies will have
something to do with the dark in them. Later on in the trailer, there are lighter clips of
different people in the same setting. This is a good effect to use as it presents to the
audience the dangers that the people in the setting face but also creates fluency as the
setting is presented more than once in the film.
Props- Within the film they use a variety of different props to add a sense of mystery
to the film. The consistency of the prop of the live doll scares the audience as dolls are
props in real life and this can scare viewers as the film links to real life. The use of chain
saws is also a good prop to use within the film as it links to the title of the flim so shows
fluency, but it also adds an element of gore to the film as they trailer talks about ‘sawing
their feet off’.
Costume- the costumes used of the victims are all light and have a slight colour of
light blue. The use of the light blue clothing reveals a sense of vunerability of the people
as blue is associated with new born, young baby boys.
Diegetic sound- the diegetic sound presented in this trailer uses mainly the
laughing of the doll. The consistent laughing of the doll makes the audience feel like the
doll is following them and this helps to add fear.

3. Editing:
At the beginning of the trailer there are
lots of jump shots from one clip to
another. The jump shots are done and
created as if there was is a man taking
pictures and from each shot to another
there is a camera noise and a flash to
emphasise this effect. The quick jump
shots intrigue the audience immediately
and make them was to carry on watching
to see what is going on.
There is also use of a plain black screen
before it goes from one clip to another. It
will play a clip, then the screen will go
black for a second and then the next clip
is played. This is also to add suspense.
There is also a transition between the
clips from the 37th to the 39th second of
the trailer. Tbhis transision goes from the
outside of the screen into the middle of
the screen creating a circle around the
dolls head. This is done very quickly and
this helps with the fluency of the trailer.
From post production you can see that
though the editing they have used an
effect called vignette. This adds a dark rim
around the screen to darken the screen
and make the atmosphere more
suspicious.
Camera:
All of the shots used within the trailer are close up
shots. The close up shots consist of images of
peoples faces, dangerous equipment, the doll which
follows through the film and also images of news
paper articles.
The close up shots used of the peoples faces are
used for effect and they show off the state in which
the people are in. these shots reflect on the victims
emotions during the trailer and the audience starts
to sympathise with them as the state of their faces
and emotions are tragic.
The close ups of the dangerous equipment remind
the audience that they are watching a horror movie.
It also emphasises the danger or the equipment and
the harm that they can do people and props.
The close up images of the doll are short and
frequent. This shows the audience that even though
you cannot see the doll the whole time through the
different clips, he is always there. This reflects in the
constant laugh played over the clips also.

4. Narrative theory:
Linking the film trailer to Propps theory, you cannot
link all of the characters in the film the theory,
however you could say that the doll is the villain.
Although the doll is not trying to destroy or get in
the way of any hero, it is causing pain for others and
putting them into misery; this could be a
characteristic of a villain character.
You could say that all of the victims are hero's and
that is why the doll is approaching them and trying
to torture them, destroying their lives.
Linking to Levi Strauss’s theory, the theme of the
film links to binary opposites. The binary opposites
shown in the film are good and evil. The good
people are the victims who are seen to have not
don’t anything wrong and the evil character is the
doll which is trying to torture the good.