This is my trailer analysis of 'The possession'

1. THE POSSESSION
Trailer analysis

2. PLOT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40
At the start of the possession trailer we follow a separated couple and how their daughters time is split between them. We follow the
child’s (Em, short for Emily) everyday life. From watching the first 18 seconds of this trailer, we get the perception that the dad likes to be
the favourite parent. He does everything the mother has pacifically told him not to do, for example order pizza. As the trailer progresses
we can see that the dad and Em have a good relationship. 24 seconds into the trailer Em and her dad go to a garage sale and she buys an
old box. When they take it home, weird movements from the box start to happen which intrigues Em, she later then opens it and starts
investigating the pieces inside. Em later starts acting reserved and starts to distance herself away from everyone. Her concerned parents
then start trying to understand why she is acting this way. Later on when they have dinner, Em starts to get angry stabbing away at her
plate and then goes for her dad. Her dad later makes the connection that her actions must have something to do with the box she
brought, so decides to take it to a priest in order to get answers. They warn him that she is slowly being taken over by and evil spirit and
they have to act fast in order to save her. After her actions get out of control and her behaviour starts to worsen and get more aggressive
they decide to seek medical help. After having an x-ray this is when they see that the spirit inside of her. Despite medical help and help
from the priest nothing seems to work and the evil spirit inside of her only seems to get stronger. At the end of the trailer we see her
mouth and fingers which look like they are coming out of her throat, this later conforms our suspicion she is being possessed. We are not
given any indication into whether she is saved/dies or carries on being possessed.

3. WHAT I ANALY SED
 There are 138 edits in the possession trailer
 There are 23 separate locations
 160 clips
 Quick pace of editing : About 56 seconds into the trailer we get a quick pace of
editing as Em deteriorates. At 1.14 we get more quick pace of editing as her actions become
more aggressive. At 1.42 when she is taken to the hospital and the spirit is effecting the
computers there is a quick pace of editing to show the disturbance and how much power
this spirit has. At 2.06 there is more quick pace of editing because it is showing how worse
she is getting and all the consequences of her actions. It is also to try and give the audience
snap shots of what’s to come without giving too much away.
 Characters: In the possession the main characters are the mum and dad of the girl and
the girl (Em) who is the victim.

4. OTHER FEATURES
At the end of the trailer it tells you who presents the film. For example in this case
it says ‘Sam Raimi presents The Possession’
 The title is also shown at the end of the film purposely for effect. This is also
done so you have to watch the whole trailer to find out what the film is about.
 Also at the end we get the name ‘Lionsgate’ and which other films they have
made. For example in this instance they have also made ‘Ghost House’ This
information is at the end of the trailer because it is not that relevant that it needs to
be at the front, the purpose of this being there is so people are able to relate to this.
Also if they liked Ghost House they may like The Possession as they are made by the
same company.

5. OTHER FEATURES
We are not told who is featured in the possession, this may be because there is nobody famous in
the film. Sometimes this is done for effect, to give us a sense of ‘normality’ and to make it realistic.
In the possession there is no voice over, this is because the music and the characters featuring in
the film tell the story. Also the use of the cuts and camera movements heighten our scare factor so
that a voice over is not needed.
At the end of the possession trailer we are told that ‘coming soon’ we are also given a facebook
link in which we can go on to find more information about the film/trailer. We are also told who it is
written by, in this case it is ‘Juliet Snowdon and Stiles white’
The unique selling point in the possession is the fact that we are not shown that the little girl
survives the possession.
In the possession I was able to determine the genre of the trailer 24 seconds in because the music
is spooky and the fact that Em picked up a box, connoted to me that something bad was going to
happen.

6. WHAT WE SEE/EXPECT
 The film The Possession is classed as a ‘supernatural horror film’
which was directed by Ole Bornadal. When we think of ‘Supernatural
horror films’ we expect them to be about ghosts and evil spirits.
Normally a church and a priest are featured in them as well. This
genre normally targets children as they are more vulnerable and this
makes it more scary.

7. HORROR CONVENTIONS
 Child (girl)
 Evil spirit
 Blood
 Wind
 Darkness
 Hospitals
 Church
 Priest
 Concerned parents
 Screams

8. HOW IT FITS THE GENRE
 From watching the trailer I can tell that ‘The possession’ fits some of the features we expect
to see in a supernatural horror film. A little girl is possessed by an evil spirit and goes to see a
priest, this fits our expectations that this film will feature a young child, that a priest or a church
will be included and that an evil spirit will feature. Also as Ems behaviour starts to become more
intensive there is a quick pace of editing to show us all the things that are happening to her. This
is done to scare us more because it is showing us quickly all the different events that are
happening to her, this also fits the expectations of a horror film. When Em starts to become
aggressive towards her mother, the lighting is very dark, this tells us as an audience something
bad is going to happen. When we see darkness we expect something scary to happen and this is
how this event also fits our expectations.

9. MIS-EN-SCENE
 At the start of the possession trailer the girl Em, that is the victim is dressed in
casual clothes, we can tell from this that she expresses her personality through her
clothes. When the evil spirit begins possessing her clothes become plain, which is
reflecting her effort in life. When Em becomes at her worst she is standing in the
middle of the road in a white nightie, her hair looks wet and straggly, these are all
typical conventions we expect when we think of ‘possession’ .The fact that Em is
normally in white signifies her innocence and how she is just a normal girl at heart
but this has spirit inside of her has changed this. She also has a few grey outfits,
grey signifies coldness.

10. SOUND
 At the start of the trailer the music seems almost like what you would expect to hear at the beginning of a fairy-tale, this
follows our equilibrium for the story. Later when Em goes to the garage sale the spooky music starts which immediately raises
or suspicions which tells us something bad is going to happen. When Em opens the box it sounds like a large heart beating
really loudly, this also raises our suspicions that something is going to happen. We think this because when you heart races fast
it can represent that you are scared. After Em has opened the box we get flash clips of her life and as we see these we hear her
fork scrape against her plate. Then when Em strikes her dad we hear thunder, this is to represent that what Em has done is a
vicious act and how she is changing. From 1.31, all of Ems actions are put high in the sound mix, to make them more
exaggerative and to make the audience aware of them. The lead up to us going into Ems room, we hear a whispering chant
which almost comes across ‘devilish’ When we go inside her room and see birds, we hear their wings flying around, this has
been put high in the sound mix as well to emphasise how they are not meant to be in her room and also the amount of them.
When Ems dad reads her a story we can hear how frightened he is by his voice. While he is reading this there are smashes and
bangs in the background, this is to emphasises that Em doesn’t like what he has to say. Towards the end when we are getting
clips and quick cuts of what is happening in Ems life, religious music is played. It sounds like a high pitched women's voice,
this could link in with the idea of her being possessed. Towards the end when we see Em looking into her mouth we get a
deep voice which is to represent the demons fingers in her throat. To finish the trailer the devilish chants start again, this is to
link in with the fingers we have just seen.

11. SOUND
 All of these sounds such as ‘screams’ ‘devilish whispers’ and thuds
all make up the conventions of a typical horror movie. They add to
the story and make it more realistic and scary. These are the clues we
get to distinguish this is a horror.