This is my trailer analysis of 'The house of wax'

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DnFKwVcM10
HOUSE OF WAX
Trailer analysis

2. PLOT
 The House of Wax starts with a group of teenagers driving to a campsite and then
they get lost. The place they end up in is not listed on any maps and is unrecognisable on
the sat nav. While they are in this abandoned place they enter ‘the house of wax’ which as
the name states, is a house made out of wax. They start exploring around and find some
wax figures which look like real life people. Later on in the trailer the teenagers get
attacked and try too escape. They soon realise that the people in the wax house looked so
real because they were, this makes them more terrified and they attempt to run away. We
then later get a clip of the teenagers being chased and then tormented. The final clip is of
a person trapped down on a chair, unable to move. We then see a man start spraying him
with hot wax, this then concludes our suspicion that the man running the house of wax
tortures people and then covers them in wax to have in his museum.

3. WHAT I ANALY SED
 I analysed that there are roughly 64 edits in the house of wax trailer
 There are fades which are used to open the trailer, close the trailer and when text is present. For
example when it says ‘six friends are lost’ a fade opens and closes this bit of text
 There are 5 different locations featured in the house of wax trailer
 Quick pace of editing: About 40 seconds into the trailer we get quick fades as the teenagers enter
the room, this tells us as an audience something bad is going to happen and that they shouldn’t be in
there. 1.01 there is more quick pace of editing , shows that the teenagers are being chased and the camera
follows them trying to get away. From 1.10 until 1.27 there is quick pace of editing to show the trouble
the teenagers are in and what is happening to them. It then starts too slow down as it shows us the man
slowly being covered in wax, this is so we focus on what is happening as this is going to be a key event.
 Characters: 6 teenagers

4. OTHER FEATURES
 The name of the film is featured at the end of the clip, this is done so the audience has to watch the
whole trailer to find out what film it is. We then also get a clip of someone’s hand in wax after the title
has been shown, this doesn’t happen a lot in trailers so when it is used it provides a good effect. This is
done to constantly remind the audience that this film is about wax, it also scares them as they think the
trailer has finished and then you get a hand come up.
 We do not get told who is featuring in this film because there is nobody famous starring in it.
 ‘Coming soon’ is featured at the end of the clip which is telling us this film is new and will be in
cinemas shortly.
 We get given a website as well which is where the audience can find out more information about the
film, where we can watch hidden clips and the trailer.
 We later then get another clip of the film, this is done deliberately so the audience is constantly
reminded about what's happening.

5. OTHER FEATURES
 The house of wax opens with a fade of them driving to a place we are unsure of at the moment. This is used to show
us the surrounding areas and to make us aware that is night.
 The unique selling point in this trailer is that it is based around a wax museum, this is an original idea that hasn’t ever
been done before therefore this is the unique selling point.
 We do not get told who is featuring in this trailer because there is nobody famous in it. It focuses on a group of
teenagers.
 There is no voice over in the house of wax, because we follow the story with the teenagers. There is also dialogue that
tells us what a voice over would.
 At the end of the House of wax we are told that it is ‘Coming soon’ and we also have a website in which we are able to
find out more about the film if we want. The warner brothers badge is shown at the end as well which tells us what
movie production company made it.
 12 seconds into the trailer when it says ‘3 friends are lost’ are when we as an audience, start to develop an
understanding that this is a horror, due to the fact they are lost and the music.

6. WHAT WE SEE/EXPECT
 The house of wax is an American horror film which was directed
by Jaume collett-serra. When we think of ‘American horror films’ we
normally expect an accent and quite middle classed people. We also
expect a scare that will make us jump and constantly keeps us
thinking ‘what’s going to happen next?’ We normally expect to see a
group of people, age ranging from mid teens to late adults.

7. HORROR CONVENTIONS
The horror conventions that are included in this trailer are
 Screams
 Darkness
 There’s no people around- isolated
 Nobody around to help them
 Quick pace of editing throughout the torture
 Knife
 Blood
 Fire
 Restriction
 Villain/victim
 Hot wax

8. HOW IT FITS THE GENRE
 I think the trailer of ‘The house of wax’ fits the genre because
most of what we expect is met. We expect to see a group and we have
a group of six. We also expect there age range to be from teens to late
adults, the people featured in this are in the middle of this range.

9. MISE-EN-SCENE
 During the house of wax trailer the group of teenagers are all in casual clothes
which connotes that they are relaxed and ready to enjoy themselves. They are
driving at night which is also a big give away that something is about to go wrong.
When they enter the village, there is nobody in sight, this ‘abandoned’ feeling with
no one to help them is a typical horror convention. As the teenagers begin to get
chased and tortured their hair and face are wet which signifies sweat, because they
have been running. We also get blood down there heads which shows us that
something based has happened to them, ‘blood’ also fits the horror genre.

10. SOUND
 The music at the start of the trailer is up tempo beats, this could represent the suspense we have as an
audience. This music supports the realisation of the film and the normality, as nothing has happened yet. There is
no voiceover throughout the whole trailer, which is very unusual, instead they have just put the characters voices
high in the sound mix, we also get clips informing us of information which would expect to hear from a voice
over, for example the first clip is ‘Six friends are lost’ 14 minutes into the trailer when we find out they are lost we
then get music which sounds like ticking, this represents the build up to what is about to happen. We also get
loud bangs when clips are shown from the ‘villains’ point of view. 40 seconds into the trailer when there are quick
cuts of the people inside the house of wax, there is then a heart beat sound which is to represent how scared they
must be while they are in there. 56 minutes into the trailer is the build up of what is about to happen, we hear a
door creak which tells us as an audience that something is coming for the teenagers inside. We then hear the slash
of knives and screams from the teenagers. The music then stops and we hear ‘What are you going to do to me’
Then a smash of glass, a car engine and concession of screams. As we see quick cuts we have up tempo music
which gets louder and quicker and then it stops and we see a clip of a boy sitting in the chair. We hear the sound
of the metal tightening on his face, the sprinkler of wax and him quivering.