GOTHIKA TRAILER ANALYSIS

The trailer begins conventionally with images of logos of film companies however, unconventionally we hear Penelope Cruz’s character (Chloe) saying to Halle Berry’s character (Miranda) “you have no idea how it feels not to be trusted.” This creates a sound bridge from the logos into the opening shot and immediately grabs the attention of the audience.

Chloe looks bedraggled; she has no makeup on and is wearing a hospital gown on. In contrast with this, a medium close up reveals that Miranda looks professional, her hair is neatly tied back, out of her face, she has makeup on which makes her look natural and pretty, she looks healthy and tidy and nothing but sane at the start of the trailer. When Chloe says “crazy” the shot cuts to the medium close up below, could this foreshadow that soon she will be the one that is crazy?

As Chloe speaks about her mental state, a wide shot replicates and shows her feelings. The setting looks like a prison, Chloe is literally incarcerated, and this reflects the fact that she is trapped inside of her own mind. Her head is shrouded and hidden by her hair, which makes it look dark, it could be suggested that at this moment, she is in a very dark place psychologically and being hidden away from society. They are surrounded by a wire mesh and the window in the setting is small and far away (as you can see below), there is a lack of light and lack of hope for Chloe. Non diegetic sound though out is eerie and intense.

An extreme close up is used of Miranda’s eye, she has no colour in her eyes, could this hint that the colour in her life is about to be taken and the audience are going to be exposed to the inside of her which must be vulnerable. A graphic match is used as we move from her eye to the logo ‘dark castle’. This is a clever way to move footage and it highlights that things are about the change for Miranda and turn dark.

Eerie non diegetic sound continues to unnerve the audience and heighten their expectations. The first strap is super imposed onto a long shot of Miranda. This is unusual and unconventional; normally straps are against a plain black background. The strap labels Miranda as an “expert” and having it super imposed onto her makes the strap personal to her. The setting backs up the idea that she is an expert. She is in some kind of medical environment, she is carrying a stack of informal papers and she is wearing an ID badge. She commands the space and is in the centre of the frame. She is wearing sensible shoes, a knee length skirt and a roll neck

sweater; she looks professional, sophisticated and confident that she knows what she is doing.

The following straps reveal that she is an expert at knowing what is rational, logical and sane; these words are highlighted by turning red, this suggests that danger is coming and tells the audience that this film is clearly a psychological horror and draws in the fans of this sub-genre. These words are ironic as considering she is supposed to be an ‘expert’ she becomes, insane, illogical and irrational.

As the trailer continues an extreme long shot is used of her leaving the mental hospital. The setting looks gloomy and dismal and this sets it up as a bad place. There is a sign which says ‘woodward penitentiary.’ ‘Penitentiary’ makes the place seem even more like a prison. The word ‘pen’ also reminds the audience of animal cages; the patients are locked away like animals. The building looks hostile, the colour of the brick is cold and there is little light, once again signalling there is no hope and that whoever is in there is trapped. Compared to the previous long shot she is no longer commanding the frame, she looks scared and vulnerable and insignificant against the building, this is a hint that the building is soon going to consume her.

The trailer is gradually meeting Miranda’s turning point now. She has messy hair, her costume no longer looks professional and her complexion is deteriorating compared to how she looked before. A colleague of hers comes behind her to jovially scare her and it works, she shrieks and jumps and we are now seeing the vulnerable side to Miranda Grey. Her colleague says “all this education and you still can’t remember an umbrella” this is trivial and sets up the idea that as well as an umbrella, she is going to forget herself.

When Miranda is in the car, the footage slows down and diegetic sound is emphasized by the splashing puddles. The can tell something is about to happen and are put on red alert. The action speeds up, a long shot of a girl appears and the car crashes. The action fades to black to reflect the car crash, when in shock or you are scared your eyes shut. The audience are able to share the moment as there is a quick point of view shot of the girl and then a close up of Miranda’s reaction. The girl seems to be a ghost; her stock costume is a white nighty and she has white skin, she is a block of paleness. The audience can tell this girl is a ghost, as any human would jump out of the way but the girl just stands there, emotionless and drenched.

There is a long shot of Miranda approaching the girl, she looks

apprehensive as the ‘ghost girl’ doesn’t move, she asks “are you okay” and then the ‘ghost girl’ grabs her face. The non diegetic sound is firing to scare the audience even more and make them jump. The audience question who is this ‘ghost girl’? Why is she there? And what does she want?

Straps that follow reveal that Miranda was an expert ‘until the day she woke up on the other side.’ There is a medium close up of her reaching towards the camera. She is a completely different woman to who she was at the start of the trailer, her hair is dry and dishevelled and she looks pale and haunted, she is now a desperate woman who is no longer in control. There is also a change in mise-en-scene, the hospital setting used to be bright when she dominated the corridors, now it is dark, gloomy and plain and the building has consumed her. The fact that she has ‘woke up’ suggests that her mindset changed instantly over night and that it wasn’t gradual, this makes the audience question what happened. The non diegetic sound is like an eerie screech and the camera pulling away suggests her sanity moving away from her. The screen fades to white to show her non existence sanity and the action cuts to a long shot of the building that she is now a patient in, the building looks like a prison and it

is now clear to the audience that she has changed from the woman she once was.

Soon after this there is a shot of her in her ‘cell’ this fully establishes to the audience she’s a patient and there is zero doubt that she is now a shadow of her former self. She is cornered to the side of the room and it is dominating her. Her gown is pulled up exposing her legs, she has no control over her dignity and this is a huge contrast to her previous costume. She looks desperate, scared and small. The room is dark, cold and hostile and the

bed looks hard and metallic. There is a chink of light that signals it is now Miranda that has no hope. She is imprisoned in the worst place possible; everything is grey which is ironic as she is Miranda Grey. (See image below)In a following medium shot her colleague announces that she has killed her husband. There is a stab of non diegetic sound that emphasizes her shock that the audience echoes. The audience begin to question her mental state and they also come to the conclusion that this is why she is locked away, they also wonder if there is a link between the ‘ghost girl’ and her husband’s murder. This intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch the film to find out.

Shots that follow include a long shot of police cars and journalists and a medium close up of Miranda looking at a news paper article about the murder. All of these shots are blaming her for the death of her husband and she is in denial. Throughout this, non diegetic sound pounds, to signal rising tension and mimicking her panicked heart beat.

Two very quick close ups follow on from this of the ‘ghost girl’. She looks dirty and is ravenously baring her teeth, she has wet, mangled hair, her eyes look wicked and wild and her nose is scrunched to cause an evil frown on her face. She looks like she is about to attack and launch herself at Miranda and we hear her actions through heightened diegetic sound of

her slicing something

with a sharp utensil. The audience question, did the ‘ghost girl’ kill the husband?

Then there is a close up of Miranda gasping and there is shock and alarm in her eyes, it is as if what we have just seen of the ‘ghost girl’ is a flash back in her mind, is she remembering the night of her husband’s death? Or is this a figment of her imagination and the ‘ghost girl’ is just in her messed up mind? The audience want to know the answer to these questions, making them want to watch the film.

Another series of shots follow on revealing that Miranda definitely saw a vision of a dead girl on the night of the murder. There is an extreme long shot of the ‘ghost girl’ in the door way at the end of a very long, dark corridor. She is standing in the doorway with light behind her. The environment seems to be underground as there is water, pipes and limited lighting, apart from the light behind her. The ‘ghost girl’ looks translucent, and white. She looks very relaxed; this contrasts with Miranda’s current feelings. Perhaps this is the basement of Miranda’s home? If it is it backs up the idea that the ‘ghost girl’ does have something to do with Miranda’s husband’s death. Or it could represent that the dark corridor is a figment of Miranda’s imagination and the ‘ghost girl’ is in the darkest depths of Miranda’s mind. The fact that the ‘ghost girl’ is blocking the light behind her could symbolise that the ‘ghost girl’ is standing in the way of Miranda retrieving her sanity and blocking any hope Miranda has.

Through dialogue in a later shot an elderly male character who is well dressed and spoken informs Miranda that “the girl died four years ago.”

The audience believe him because of his presence, he seems to be a reliable source, and the audience have now established that the ‘ghost girl’ is definitely a ghost. After the revelation, two rapid shots follow, one of a car and one of the ‘ghost girl’ screaming. However, the girl seems to have more life in her, could this be a flashback of her death? Did she die in a car accident and now she stands in the road as a spirit reliving her death over and over again and Miranda just so happened to see her? The non diegetic sound compliments the shot as it is a loud high pitched screech.

Miranda claims that the ‘ghost girl’ has come to her with a “very specific agenda” this makes the audience wonder what this agenda is. The following shot is a wide shot of the ‘ghost girl’ actually in the mental hospital, we know this because of the setting, it looks clinical and there is a typical trolley of bed sheets. The ‘ghost girl’ is walking in a slow, unnatural and disjointed way, she seems to know where she is going. The ‘ghost girl’ seems to be looking at the camera but her face is covered by darkness, this makes her look even more terrifying for the audience who are already unnerved by her strange walk and tilted body. Her presence in this shot is key; the ‘ghost girl’ is continuing to haunt Miranda, but why? The audience must watch to find out. There is also a suggestion that because she must have been ran over and killed near by, maybe she was once a patient at the hospital and escaped and was killed whilst wearing her hospital gown and this is why she wanders in the white nighty. Maybe, she now haunts the hospital and for some reason she has targeted Miranda.

Two shots follow soon after which are joined together using a dissolve. One is a medium

close up of Miranda’s arm with the words ‘not alone’ brutally carved on her arm and a long shot of her by a door with the same words written in blood on the door. Firstly, this creates a symbiotic link between the trailer and the film poster. Secondly, this consolidates that she is not alone and is being haunted. Or, if she herself has carved these words then this could suggest symptoms of psychosis, e.g. self harm, paranoia and unusual behaviour. Thirdly, in this shot, she is silhouetted through the use of back lighting suggesting that she is in a dark place. Surrounding the words there is blood scattered all around, this suggests that the action was done in a frantic frenzy. One of the blood marks to the right of the door looks like a scary face, this adds a scary feel and suggests Miranda is forever being watched.

After this, there is a big close up of Miranda’s face, she is now mimicking what Chloe said at the very start, “you can’t trust someone who thinks you are crazy” she is now in the position that Chloe is in. Miranda has dramatically fallen and her words could reflect being psychotic, no one can truly understand what it is like or help until they have been there. It is only now that Miranda can finally help Chloe as she knows what it is like.

Unconventionally, straps follow that reveal the actors names along side medium close ups of the characters they play. The film is capitalising on the fact that the film has ‘A list’ Hollywood actors. Usually horrors feature unknown actors which creates realism for the film, making it scarier. Within these shots, Chloe asks Miranda if she is scared, this puts Chloe in a superior role compared to the beginning, Chloe is now looking out for Miranda. She was once Miranda’s patient but now she has turned into her friend.

In the last 20 seconds of the trailer there is a deep shot of an axe, the audience may guess that this is the night of Miranda’s husband’s murder, and the axe could be the murder weapon. There is a silhouette of a man and headlights of a car approaching. Could this be taking the audience

right back to the start of the trailer before the crash and be revealing her husband’s murder? The silhouette could be her husband, Miranda is in the car approaching and the ‘ghost girl’ is holding the

axe about to kill the husband and appear in front of the car. All of these questions are circulating the audience’s mind and this is making them want to watch the film.

After this shot, we have a conventional quick montage of shots. One of them includes a shot of a troubled looking Miranda looking in the mirror, maybe she is now truly seeing herself for what she has turned into. The final piece of dialogue we hear is Chloe telling Miranda that she should be scared which leave the audience with a sense of feelings scared and anxious and desperate to find out what she should be scared of.

The closing shots reveal ‘Gothika’ written in the signature font that is on all the promotional material creating a symbiotic link. The word turns from white to red signalling the idea of change, danger and death. It reflects that she was once pure and now she is disturbed, troubled and in a dangerous place. Finally, there are two shots of institutional information and then ‘coming soon’ which is conventional. There is also a web address where eager fans of the film can find out more.