Trailer Analysis: Shutter

Directed by	Masayuki Ochiai
Produced by	Takashige Ichise Roy Lee Doug Davison
Written by	Luke Dawson
Starring	Joshua Jackson Rachael Taylor
Music by	Nathan Barr
Cinematography	Katsumi Yanagijima
Editing by	Tim Alverson Michael Knue
Studio	Regency Enterprises New Regency Vertigo Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	March 21, 2008 (USA) May 15, 2008 (Australia)
Running time	Theatrical cut: 85 minutes Unrated cut: 90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English Japanese
Budget	$8 million
Box office	$47,879,410

20th century fox is a popular institution, that may psychologically help the audience decide whether or not they wish to watch the film. Films made by 20th century fox are usually popular with people and make  large amount of money at box office and through DVD release.

Another institution that that are somewhat popular is regency. If the audience like watching films by this institution, they may recognise the film to be by regency and go to watch the film.

By saying "From executive producers of the grudge and the ring" the audience can see what films have been made before by the executive producers and whether the films created were successful. This may then make the audience think about whether they want to see the film. The text is small which may not catch the audiences attention in comparison to using larger text but the audience still may want to watch the film as it is from the creator of" The Grugde".

The start of the trailer shows a camera, the ambient sound matching the image, which already tells the film has to be about a camera of some sort. At this stage of the trailer the genre of the film us unknown but with the dark colours used in this shot leads us to believe that the film could be a horror or thriller film.

 we then see defected images on screen that show what seems to be some sort of energy shown on screen. the voice over then says "the pictures you are about to see are real." this adds an affect to the trailer as the audience then know that the film was loosely bases on a true story. This means the audience are more likely to watch the film as they believe this could then happen to them.

The trailer then shows the audience some of the real life images that are shown throughout he film. incidental music is played in the background which is sharp and adds to the mood of the trailer.

Incidental music starts, as the audience see a skeleton. This builds tension and can scare the audience which can help make them more likely to go and watch the film. Still using a voice over around each shot, to work around the incidental music, means that the audience can gain more information on the film and determine whether they wish to go to see the film.

The feminine voice over adds a little mystery to the trailer. It also adds peace to the horror film that would usually add uncertainty, tension and fear. The voice seems to be calm and so this means we do not hear fear in the voice, this makes us as the audience worry less. this is an example of Claude Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites. His theory suggests that for a text to be interesting towards an audience the text needs to have many opposites for example good and evil.

It is important to tell the audience when they can expect to be able to watch the film. The trailer should give as much information to the audience as possible but as this is a teaser trailer it only needs to give an indication to when the film will be out. This means that the audience are more likely to watch the full trailer to find out when the exact date of the replace of the film. Before this shot there is worrying incidental music playing in the background but as this shot appears there is a sting. This could suggest the importance of the shot. By making the text black, contrasts with the cream background, the text becomes clearer even if it is small.

The pace of this shot is extremely fast. This could suggest the shock of the character. The background of this shot is very dark which adds to the mood of the trailer and gives the character a look of worry.

Using a close up shot of these two characters, we are able to see the emotion both characters are portraying. This means that the film may be more popular as it shows romance and horror, this then opens up the target audience.



The name of the film is finally shown at the end of the trailer. This means that if people want to watch the film they have to wait until the end of the trailer before they find out what the name of the film is. This also means that the audience will get as much intimation about the film as possible before they get to see the name. the name of the film comes up at the end of this trailer as it makes sure that the audience has to watch the whole trailer before they find out the film that they wish to watch.

The location of this film was set in a house this means that the trailer would show the setting of the film and help the audience understand the trailer more. The information would help the audience get a glimpse into the storyline of the trailer, a horror film that is set in a house usually suggests that the house is possessed.