RESEARCH: TRAILER ANALYSIS 3

Here is a link to IMDB where you can click on 'watch trailer' to see it.

‘Saw IV’, written by Patrick Melton, is a horror/crime film, for young adult or mature teenagers. This is a sequel to the ‘Saw’ series, which are renowned for gory, torture films; this is emphasised by the clear connotation of violence in the poster. This would attract previous ‘Saw’ fans, and also people who aren’t aware of the series, but enjoy the horror/thriller genre.

The poster is mostly white/ pale-grey, which connotes purity, and since childhood, has frequently been associated with ‘good’ instead of ‘bad’. The shot is a close-up of a table setting, in a high camera angle. This signifies the emotion in the film, and the angle suggests domination and the power that is held by the gentleman setting the table setting. The image is of a gentleman, assumed the protagonist, placing a fork down in a table; the simplicity of the shot makes the audience focus on the bloody torture implements on the dinner plate. There is a subdued hint of perfectionism in the image, as the gentleman is wearing white gloves, commonly associated with cleanliness or medical work, and he looks like he’s straightening the fork into a the perfect position. This suggests to the audience that the gentleman in the shot cares greatly about the amount of work that has gone into this table setting. This foreshadows the later events in the film, where Jigsaw (the gentleman in the picture), shows psychopathic tendencies in his flawless torture methods and experiments.

Another feature of this shot is the presumed table that the place setting is on, it’s a previously used, metal surgery table; this together with the blood stained implements creates a disturbing image that strongly connotes violence and the hooror genre but also a fastidious surgical connection.

The lighting used in the shot highlights the feature of the poster. The plate is highlighted as the most important part. The lighting is reflected on the silver cutlery, as well in the red blood. The lighting is high contrast, which causes the entire image to be clear to the audience instead of a certain section or optical area. The title Saw IV‘, is the same colour as the crimson blood on the plate. The ‘Saw’ titles have always been the same red colour and font; this causes the title to be commonly known, which attracts the audience who are previous fans. This is similar to the production companies which are shown at the bottom of the poster. Companies such as ‘Lionsgate’, and ‘Twisted Pictures’, have a background in horror film production, which means that the film is created by the experts in the business.

The colours used in the shot, are primary colours, which cause different affects on the audience. Red is known as a primary colour of lighting, and this is the focusing colour of the shot. As the audience then notice that it’s blood on torture instruments.

Overall, the film poster seems minimalistic, but at second glance, the audience can un-cover a large proportion of the plot included in the film. The film poster is successful in the way that it manages to portray the protagonist and his flaws easily, which is effective, as the audience only see his hand.