Texual Analysis Teaser Trailer - Buried 2010 - Benjamin aColatse

The Film Title: Buried

Year Of Release: 2010

Director: Rodrigo Cortés

Producer: Adrián Guerra,
Peter Safran

Production/Financing company: Versus Entertainment,
Safran Company,
The Dark Trick Films,
Studio 37

Actors: Ryan Reynolds as Paul Conroy
Ivana Miño as Pamela
Anne Lockhart as 911 Operator/CRT Operator
Robert Paterson as Dan Brenner
José Luis García Pérez as Jabir
Stephen Tobolowsky as Alan Davenport
Samantha Mathis as Linda Conroy
Warner Loughlin as Donna Mitchell/Maryanne Conroy/Rebecca Browning
Erik Palladino as Special agent Harris
Heath Centazzo as Soldier
Joe Guarneri as Soldier

Film Origin: Chris Sparling

Synopsis: Paul Conroy wakes up 6 feet underground with no idea of why he is there, and is pretty sure that he is not ready to Die. So life for the truck driver and family man suddenly becomes a hellish struggle for survival. While Buried with only a cell phone and a lighter, therefore limited contact with the outside world. Along with Poor reception, a rapidly draining battery, and a ever lowering oxygen supply in a tightly confined race against time - Paul has only 90 minutes to be rescued.

Analysis:

The trailer has a consistent over all Low key/no lighting theme through out goes again the normal dynamics of a horror movie, denoting an over all Horror feel and connoting a mysterious and scary feel, this along with the minimal light used when the lighter is lighten also gives the setting connotes a mysterious look which is stereo typical of an Horror trailer, although the setting is only shown once through for around 2 seconds. And not much of his costume is shown all that is seen is that he is wearing some sort of dressing gown, which connotes that he may have been taken from his house at night/early morning time. There are 3 props used during the trailer: a lighter, Rope/cloth around the characters neck, and a wooden box. The rope/cloth around the actors neck connotes signs of the character has been kidnapped, and the wooden box that he is enclosed in along with the movie Title connotes that the character is Buried.

Also there is a fair use of Non-Diegetic sound such as sound effects however the majority of the sound is Diegetic e.g. ‘tone of phone keys calling 911’ “Pick up, pick up, pick up” which is used while the character rings emergency services “Yes 911” with his mobile phone connoting that he is struggling and the sound of the character moving. The Non-Diegetic sound effects donnote and back up the idea and convention of this being a Horror movie, as they sound & connote a gloominess, depressed, dejected standard. During the trailer there is also no Voice over/Score/incidental Music which challenges the normal conventions for a horror trailer.

There is also no Camera movement in this trailer, which connotes a feeling being stuck somewhere and also challenges the normal conventions of a Horror trailer. The camera angle consists of a simple eye level medium close up (MCU) shot of the character, which back ups the connotation of being stuck.

After analyzing the the movie trailer I can conclude the movie shows to be a Horror while challenging a lot of conventions, and consist of its own style. And I believe that the Story is presented in a creative fashion while also not showing too much of what going on and spoiling the actual movie, and creating a mystery and desire for the viewer to want to watch the actual movie. As it connotes feeling of suspense and leaves the viewer wondering how the character will escape or become rescued from the wooden box.

The theory of the wooden box situation is backed up by various events such as things the character says “I was hit over the head, and I blacked out”, the little light given at the end which shows the character Is surrounded by something which looks built from wooden planks and has a rectangular shape. Therefore the viewer gets a brief idea of the location of the character however we do not know or have any clues of were the character is located.

The main character and only character we saw was represented as a scared man who did not have a clue of what was going on at all as there were signs of panicking with heavy breathing, repetition and rushed speech which represents the conventions of a horror movie. The other character on what sounds to be talking via Phone conversation sounds like a 911 call representative as she sounds to be trying to calm down the situation and ask were he is “can you tell me your location”.

Although the Trailer is short it is paced at a medium speed, and still manages not to show too much about the movie, this makes the viewer feel as if they are already watching the movie but a cut short from seeing too much, creating tension, and yearning to watch the movie.

There diversity of information revealed during the trailer, however limited. The trailer shows: the green screen at the beginning telling the viewer that the trailer ‘has been approved for appropriate audiences’ in white plain Font, the LionGate Entertainment animation clip is shown with 3D golden bronze colour font for the logo, then at the End the title of the film ‘Buried’ in blown bold Capslock writing which is also used for the Logo, also in the same writing but not in bold it shows ‘Coming Soon’ and then Film website but not in Capslock and all logos on all the companies involved, along with at the very end ‘Experience Buried on Facebook’.

During the trailer there was no advanced editing, simply a simple cuts in and out of writing and one shot of character this challenges the normal conventions of editing. Topped off by haunting sound effects which follow the normal conventions of a Horror movie.