Textual Analysis On A Trailer - Summer's Moon.

Genre: what genre is the film, and how does the trailer indicate this?

We can see from the trailer that the film is a horror. Many elements contribute to this, such as the use of the music which has a breathy-gaspy sound as the scenes change and occasionally uses a sharp metallic noise, almost like a knife slicing through something as the credits come on. These noises bring impact on what were about to see, and the gasping noises make us feel like were in the scene, trying to stay out of view, but feeling immense fear, its almost like we're making the noises. Also, the credits have a horror look, the screen is blood-splattered and the image shakes and shivers as the writing fades slightly, almost as if its trembling. Also at one point as the scene becomes violent, the image on screen solarises, like an x-ray, as its after the girl has been hit, it immediately connects the image to one of pain and injury.

The main themes shown in the trailer are of capture, torture and death which are all related to horror and are shown repeatedly to back that up. there are lingering shots of the girl chained up, struggling, crying and covered in blood.

There are alot of shots used that are specific to the horror genre such as close up's of body parts, e.g. feet dragging themselves along the ground, hands chained up, an arm around a neck, knives. These shots are used to instill fear and focus on the point of danger.

Narrative: what do you learn of the story of the film from this trailer?

We can see that a girl "Summer" is hitch-hiking and accepts a ride from a young man named "Tom" he takes her to a bar and suggests she stay at his house for the night. she agrees and they have sex in his room, who we assume to be his mother is listening outside the door. The next day the girl tries to leave but is stopped by the mother and chained u with several other girls in what looks to be the basement of the house. From the voice over, we understand that the people capturing these girls are a family, and the "Father" is menacing. "Summer" tries to escape but fails and the person helping her is killed, it's then implied that she kills/injures the family and the other girls try to escape.

Representation: what social groups are represented in this film, and how? Are stereotypes and conventional values supported or subverted? Is this film being sold on the names of any big stars, and if so, what values do these stars represent?

Family is represented and they look as if they are very close, even if psychotic. They seem to be too close as they seem to rape girls in front of one another, listen to one another have sex and kidnap people with the intention of bringing them into their "family" also. I think this implies that family is temporary now, and not as important as it once was. For a "crazy" family, the stereotypes are being supported, when compared to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" for example, there are many similarities. This family, especially the "Father" seem to be from Texas, which also supports the "Hillbilly" stereotype, there are skulls in the basement, much like the bone-furniture room in TTCM, and the victims try to stick together and help each other out.

When looking at casting, there aren't very well known stars involves. The credits seem to pin the marketing strategy of the female lead Ashley Greene as she is the only person with her name in the trailer. The credit points out her previous roles in "The Twilight Saga" but I don't think this is very well thought out as the film is rated "R" in America and many "Twilight" fans would not be old enough to see this film.

Audience: what do you think the target audience for this film is?

Again, i think they have tried t market this film at "Twilight" fans but I'm unsure of how successful that will be, otherwise I think it's aimed at fans of films such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as they are presented so similarly.