THE Descent

Narrative: The Descent starts of vibrant by making the characters smile in a photo complemented by the sunshine, this does only illustrate that equilibrium but it further conveys the location in which the trailer is set in, as it seems like the teenagers are on a trip to a isolated area surrounded by woods which was showed by the a bird’s eye view. At this point the trailer uses a variety of fades to blacks to indicate to the audience that time has elapsed but to also demonstrate that they are all in a happy mood, illustrated by laughing and joking in the car. However, the trailer also supports Todorov’s disequilibrium when the girl shouts “I am stuck”, consequently the scenes start to speed up, this implies to the audience that something controversial and bad is likely to happen to the girls as they seem to be emotional and very scared of the compactness of the cave which they are stuck in; this connotes some of the fear of society and aids the overall tension of the trailer, which is expresses by the audience. The trailer also uses lots of point of view shots to put the viewers in the perspective of the audience.

Codes and Conventions: The most imperative convention of this trailer is the feeling of isolation, this was achieved placing the group in dense woods, which they had never encountered before hence when the they became trapped the chances of them getting rescued was slim which makes the trailer even more scary and interactive. The trailer has also used a knife as a weapon which as a result would suggest that there would be casualties signified by the blood in the water. The trailer has also used darkness in the cave to create more jump scenes which was indicated by a lot of screaming and shouting. Finally, the Descent follows conventions such as close-up shots and the use of a pickaxe as a weapon used to penetrate flesh.

Sound: the trailer starts off with a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound, the diegetic sound came from the dialogue between the characters as they all seemed excited to go on the road trip. On the other hand, the non-diegetic sound was mellow in the background and could suggest that the trailer was still in equilibrium. However, the dialogue reveals that the characters are unsure about their location “are you sure we are going the right way” this connotes that they are completely isolated and vulnerable. The moment of disequilibrium was signified by a loud sound which changed the pace of the non-diegetic sound making it more intense and upbeat suggesting that something evil was about to occur, as lots of screaming and shooting began which is a stereotypical representation of females.

Editing: The beginning shows a variety of dissolves and fade to black shots as the characters are united and happy, which is also illustrated by the use of bright colours. However, as the trailer progresses the lighting of the scenes becomes darker and the sound and shot types become more faster suggesting that something bad was likely to punish the immoral teenagers for their inequities. The shots in the period of disequilibrium were more close up to get more emotions out of the characters, so that they target audience are indirectly placed in the characters positions based on specific iconography.