Textual Analysis Of A Teaser Trailer: Mirrors | MELISSA MENSAH

An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home. Regency Enterprises presents “Mirrors’’, a 2008 horror mystery thriller directed by Alexandre Aja, and stars Kiefer Sutherland. It was originally named ‘’Mirror’’ but then had be later changed “Mirrors’’ as it seemed to work out as a better choice. The film was originally scripted by the 2003 South Koren horror called “Into the Mirror” released in 2003.

This textual analysis will be focusing on the teaser trailer Mirrors 2008 which was distributed by “20^th Century Fox”. The teaser trailer lasts 51 seconds long. The link to the teaser trailer is as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm5O23nH5cg 

>>>>PASTE VIDEO HERE<<<<<

The teaser trailer opens up with a five second introduction stating the certificate of the film to indicate to the audience what they are about to be viewing. Then a brief cot of the production team which actually produced the film and teaser trailer is shown.

The first scene of the teaser trailer begins with an establishing shot of a warm welcoming household surrounded by trees. The lighting in the scene is generally bright with the shadows of the trees and the shot pans downwards the house for about two seconds then cuts to the next scene. But with those two seconds, although the audience is aware that is some sort of horror film, they are giving an indication that someone terrible may happen to a perfectly normal happy family. Also the house looks nice and welcoming but the fact that it is shadowed by trees and is not surrounded by other houses could suggest this is a usual household which may have had a spooky past. The use of sound in the beginning of the scene sounds daunting and then fades to the woman opening the door to her son to find out that he is talking to his own reflection. The angle of the shot is filmed in a low angle shot which the mother looking down at her child. This shot shows mother having authority over her son asking him what he is doing. As this shot progresses, the sound increases to a long take then a roar which cuts to the mum’s reaction which comes up as a medium shot shows the audience her expressive reaction to her sons mirror reflection still staring at her as her son gets up and moves. The shot is slowly zoomed in to make the audience think about what has just gone on.