Research: 'Panic Room' Trailer Analyis

 Please watch the embedded video below for analysis of the trailer for Panic Room. (Additional details in text below video)

• Throughout the entire trailer, many of the shots are filmed from non-static cameras (hand-held, steadicam, tracking, panning. This technique is used to make the audience feel as though they are in the film and experiencing what they're watching for themselves.
• Many quick cuts are used to show the pace of the action (a lot of the shots last less than a second), creating tension, and have been editing to show two or more different things happening at the same time.
• Low -angle shots are used to signify dominance and empowerment of character, and high-angle shots have been used to reduce the characters’ control over the situations in the narrative.
• The use of non-diegetic sound throughout the trailer is very important. At the beginning, we hear music, which then appears later on in the trailer at points of high tension. As the pace of the trailer gets faster and the tension builds up more and more, the music becomes louder, more dominant and fast paced, which adds to our apprehension and expectation. There is a load drum/banging noise during the flash transition that defines the start of the disruption within the trailer’s narrative, which enhances this moments’ significance.
• We don’t actually hear the villains speak properly at all in the trailer, only the protagonists. Villains only shout inaudibly and scream so the audience aren’t given any reason to see things from their point of view and automatically side with the heroes. For a trailer almost 2 and half minutes long, there is very little dialogue as it would spoil the plot for many viewers. Many of the diegetic sound effects are very loud, so they stand out and hint towards the film’s plot without giving too much away (e.g. gun cocking, doors creaking/shutting/tools being emptied on table/mirror smashing). These are amplified heavily to draw the audience’s attention to them, so we focus on the specific things intended rather than being distracted by any background noise in the trailer.
• All of the characters are wearing dark clothing, none of which are particularly dramatic, so we focus on the other elements of the film’s construction in order to understand what’s going on. The darkness of the clothing works well with the low key lighting, which creates an apathetic atmosphere, which concentrates the audience’s focus on the areas that excite the most thrills in the film.