The Haunting in Connecticut 2 - Jodi Lee

The Haunting in Connecticut 2 Trailer Analysis

The Haunting in Connecticut

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt_TnDqAYGc

This film starts off with a non-diegetic soundtrack of a typical American-realated sound. As they are driving the camera looks up at the trees to show what they can see and what the weather is like. This helps to set the scene. Then you can hear a girl asking about the new house and what it's going to be like and then her mum tells her she'll have loads of room to play.

They do everyday things at the start of the trailer, and start to get used to the new home whilst the girl rides her bike around the woods. As she is doing this she sees someone in the trees. The camera slows down at this point to focus on her face and reaction. The soundtrack also slows down to add to the shocked and unsure effect. The camera then gets closer to the person to show them in more detail after the close up of her face.

It then goes back to the house where the mum and girl are laying on a bed talking to each other about having a bad dream about something. Although it's real and her parents will never believe her. There's a shot reverse shot to show conversation (looking at the mum and then the little girl from and over the shoulder shot).

Then it goes back to her being in the woods and looking around a tree at a swing moving, then a man appears on the swing. This suggests that at this point no one else can see the ghosts exept from her, which suggests that something might happen to the little girl. And she's still speaking to her mum about the bad dream (sound bridge) although she has actually seen it. but probably doesn't want to believe it yet. The girl the back away after seeing him with a shocked look on her face.




There's then an over the shoulder shot of the dad talking to someone who knows baout the place. He asks if he knows where he is living as it was an underground where the slaves were taken, and people died here. There's a piece of wood in the woods with 'God bless the station master' written in red on it. This also shows you that someone has died here,  you can tell this because it's written in red and it links in with what the man was saying to him. As it goes to showing the wood this conversation carries on (sound bridge).

It then goes into a flashback of what used to happen on the land in those days. You can tell it's a flash back because it's in a sepia tone and this or another discolouration is used to show the viewer this. In the flash back you can see a group of people (slaves) walking through the woods, this is because this is where escape slaves used to go as the man explains and then it goes to an undergound scene where people are being held and killed. these people have things over their heads with eye-holes cut out of them. This makes you wonder what the people have done and who they are. Also who's being killed as they're trying to help the escaped slaves.

The next scene is back in the 'present' time, you can tell this because it goes back to normal colour. The focus is a piano key being held but no ones hand is doing it. This adds to the tension beacsue you don't know who's there or what is going to happen next. It quickly then goes back to the girl and her mum talking about the weird happenings in the house and she just reassures her and says that it was a long time ago. this is a common convention of the parents never believing their children.

It then goes back to the piano room where it shows the girl standing there with a scared look on her face holding a teddy bear. It then flickers showing a lady standing there playing the piano with a blank expression on her face. She's also wearing old working clothes which also shows she was a slave in those days. This time it look at the hand holding a piano key this makes the viewer question why it wasnt there before. It then shows a photo on the wall of the little girl and it has been smashed, which suggests that something

might happen to her as she can see them as the rest of the pictures are the same.

The girl the goes back out into the woods, which shows the viewer that she goes back there more than once, when she's there there's always an eerie sound which tells you that its bad to be there. There's a sound bridge when she says 'Its coming for me' and then a hand grabs her shoulder and it changes to black and white. This makes you question who it is and why are they after the little girl.

The story the changes to girl going missing and her mum is panicking and everyone is trying to find her. At this point there's a blue tint to the scenery to emphasise that it's night time. Words are showing up on the screen to also create a scary atmosphere. As these are shown there's a sudden sound to make it clear and scary.

Her dad it now looking for her in the woods with a torch, we have found this as a common convention in horror trailers as it adds to 'being lost' or trying to find something or someone. The girl is in a really deep hole you can see this as the camera is facing down on her and as it's coming out of the hole it increases speed. This is to show that it's never ending.

After a shine of a bright light down the hole theres a sudden flash of the little girl as something else. This makes you question whats happened to her and why has it happened to her. You can tell that it's not her because theres a difference in the look of her face.

The editing then gets slower again and show more dead people and the mum looking scared and worried, this helps to show the viewer more of what happens but doesn't tell  you the whole story. You then hear the mum shout and there's a near miss of the dad crashing into a tree. This just adds more to the story without giving you the complete plot. Towards the end of the trailer if there's any speaking it's only very little or just screaming this is to add tension.

It also shows the little girl again tied up waiting to be found. To finish the main tension (quick) building it fades to black and you hear the girl say "I told you something bad happened here" as no one believed her before. The lighting used in these shot focuses on the person so that the background is completely dark.

There are loads of quick shot showing lots of different scary faces.

There's then one more scene after the showing of the film title (this is a common convention in most trailers) this is the mum and the dad asleep and the mum wakes up and there's someone leaning over her  and when she sees them she has a shock and there's a sudden non-diegetic sound to emphasise it.