Psycho Film Trailer Analysis

Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock

The trailer I have decided to analyse is the trailer for the Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho.

How can elements of the trailer help us create our own? Looking at the themes, characters, shots, sounds and mise en scene.

The elements in the trailer for Psycho can help us create our own by the use of suspense without giving too much of the story away, enough of it is shown to draw the audience in.

Only the main parts of the film are shown in the trailer, the scariest parts and the main parts of the plot are shown. From the start the setting, the music and the plot are shown to be conforming to the genre of physiological horror. The most iconic parts of the film are shown in the trailer, after seeing the film you can clearly associate the music and scenes in the film as part of Psycho.
We can use these aspects for our trailer, we could use the element of suspense to set a mood.
The themes of the film are clearly shown in the trailer as being mayhem and murder, it is shown by the iconic 'show stabbing scene' being shown, also the music is very tense and induces fear into audience. We can use these aspects in our trailer to induce the same kind of fear into audience.
There are two main characters in the trailer, Norman Bates and Lila Crane, they are shown predominately during the trailer, the main parts of the film include them so they are shown a lot, this tells the audience who will be starring in the film. Norman Bates, at the end of the trailer, is shown as looking psychotic and out of the norm. This would induce a last bit of fear to the audience before the end of the trailer, we could use this in our trailer, it would keep the audience interested and scared of the film.


In the trailer there are a lot of POV shots of the setting and characters, this give the audience the illusion that they are in the killers eyes and watching the victim, this sets up the killer as psychotic and a stalker. It also makes the audience the illusion they are being watched themselves. As our trailer has the genre  psychological horror, the same as psycho, we can use these aspects in our film trailer to make the audience think they are being watched and in turn inducing fear.

The mise en scene is used to set the scene and set up the film for the audience, in this trailer aspects like props are used to show the audience what the film is about. For example a knife is one of the props used, this plays a prominent part of the film, as one of the most iconic scenes from the film is the 'shower scene'. This shows the audience that the theme will be murder. We can use subtle aspects like this in our film trailer, by using props can show the audience what the theme will be without actually telling them.

How is Narrative Portrayed in the Trailer? Linear, Flashbacks, Cross cuts etc. How could we use them in our own trailer?

The narrative in the trailer is a mix between flashbacks and cut across, these are both used affectively to show a story line but without giving everything away in the trailer. The beginning of the trailer shows near the beginning of the film but after that there are a lot of cutting across to different scenes which aren't in linear order but still tell the story affectively.
We could use this aspect in our film trailer, the narrative doesn't have to be in order but still has to tell the story.  The parts that are shown in flashback are the parts of the film that are leading up to the horror scenes or the most important parts, we could use this aspect in our trailer so that we can achieve the same affect that this trailer has..

We were told to find three posters and analyse them, this is the film poster for 'Psycho'.

Tom

Magazine Cover Analysis: The Shining

We couldn't find any magazine covers that would go with any of our films, so we picked another film from our genre - Psychological Horror, with Empire covering The Shining being our magazine cover.

The first thing you notice from this magazine is the way that Jack Nicholson's character - Jack Torrence has carved a hole in the door and is forcing his head through with a menacing and terrifying look on his face, being a horror it is more than obvious that the menacing look symbolises his intention to kill, this image of Jack Nicholson completely contrasts the almost glamorous style Empire cover, which although made and published in 2008 is made to bring across 1980's Hollywood, with the red in the image being a lot deeper than it normal would. Also the font that runs along the top "The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time" also supports this idea that the cover is made to look and imitate 1980's Hollywood.

I find the magazine cover quite odd, because the picture, filled with emotion and the intention of violence, completely contrasts the calm, almost celebratory cover of Empire. I think that although it is odd this contrast is what provides the interest for potential audience, if you saw this cover on the shelf of a shop it would definitely stand out over other covers due to its unique style. 

We could definitely use some of these techniques in both our film poster and our magazine cover for our film trailer, for example the neat way in which the films magazine cover has been laid out, it is clean, simple but very effective. Another thing to consider would be the contrast between the image and the layout, font and colours of the magazine, this is definitely something I would like to recreate with our magazine cover as it will give an effective meaning to the magazine cover while also getting the message across effectively to the audience.