House at the end of the street (2012)

The genre of this film is a psychological thriller. The audience is able to identify the genre as soon as it start from the loud dramatic music and the fact that she looks terrified cowering under a table using it as some sort of protection. It last approximately 2 minutes 5 seconds, which is your average length of a trailer.

The opening shot of this trailer is a medium shot of a girl crouching down under a table her expression suggests that she is shocked as to what she is looking at, the transition used in this shot is a quick zoom into her face so that the audience is able to see her expression more clearly. The next shot is a low angled medium-long shot of the same character smashing a window with a hammer this shows that she could be trying to escape from something that is chasing her. Throughout this trailer there are a lot of fade to black transitions, this could be to build the suspense for the next scene.

The diegetic sound in this trailer is mostly dialogue and screaming or panicked screeches, the male character says in one scene “Listen we have a new neighbour ok, her name is Elissa and her mom just moved in, I want you to leave her alone, do you understand me!” This suggests that he knows what is going on and it seems like he almost has control over the girl that he is talking to. The emphasised noises of the door and floorboards are used to show the age of the building that they’re in. The close up of the clock and exaggerated noise of the ticking suggests that time is precious and the fact that it’s going backwards is significant as it shows the audience that it’s going back in time. There is quite a lot of non-diegetic sounds used throughout this trailer such as the dramatic heart beat sound at the beginning to the screechy, electronic sounds in between the inter titles.

The unique selling point of this trailer is the fact that it shows the ending at the beginning and then goes backwards to reveal the whole story and how they ended up there in the end. This goes against the normal codes and conventions of how a film trailer should be presented.

The trailer represents the relationship between Elissa and Ryan as being romantically involved with one another, as you see them kissing on the sofa. It also shows a mother and daughter relationship who seem to have a close bond as it is just them two who have moved her together, also suggesting that she could be a single parent.

The narrative and what it reveals about the film plot is that they have just moved into the neighbourhood and that there seems to be a story to the “house at the end of the street” you know that the little girl in that house who killed her parents and that is why Elissa and her mum was able to afford the house. It also shows that Elissa could be trapped in that house and is trying to escape, this is shown in the scene where she gets dragged down the hall and then is strapped onto a chair shouting “No” in a strangled scream. This reveals that the plot is surrounding the story about that specific house and is concentrated on her trying escape there and finding out who really murdered their parents there?

The trailer creates a code of enigma as you don’t who the little girl is or why did she killed her parents in the beginning and how Ryan is involved with her, you also are left wondering if Elissa will survive and if there will be any murders. The trailer interacts with the audience through the use of inter titles which are “Before you experience the fear,” “Before you know the pain,”  “To witness the horror,” “To uncover the truth,” “You have to go back,” “To where it all began” this gives the audience all the information without giving too much away and sets you up for the expectations of a good psychological film that tells a chilling back story.

The mise-en-scene in this film is shown with the old house where the murders occurred and the way the girl who killed her parents is presented as she looks deranged with her hair pushed across her face and wearing a long white dress, this is stereotypical of how a girl who plays the evil character would normally look in this type of genre.

A film trailer is a successful promotional device as it lets the audience experience the film first-hand and gets the audience more involved in the film, making them feel like they are part of the experience which is more effective than just reading off a page.