Becca Case
A2 Media
For my second trailer analysis I have chosen the film trailer of Babadook. I am going to also use Torodovs narrative structure to explain this trailer.
A- Victim/Hero B- object of change
At the beginning of the trailer the mum and her son seem to be the victims and the ones who are likely to be killed by the end of the film however this changes when the mum seems to be possessed by the object of change and she then becomes a victim as well as an antagonist
Equilibrium at start: the beginning of the trailer shows a mother and her son sitting in bed and she is reading him a bedtime story therefore this creates a sense of equilibrium for the audience. Despite this we still grasp that not all will remain like this mainly through the non-diegetic music which creates an ominous feel to the film which makes the audience doubt whether this equlibrium will remain and puts us on the edge of our seats as to why or what will affect this.
Disruption of equilibrium: this disruption is not created through the object of change itself being present but by the fear from the little boy that he may be in their house therefore we see the mum looking under the bed and in the wardrobe to check that there is nothing there that could potentially harm her child. The mum tries to reassure the boy that there is nothing that can hurt them however the boy is persistent.
Recognition of distruption: the son takes weapon into school to protect him from this babadook and his mum realises that this is going too far so she tries to burn the book. When the disruption continues she is more aware and she goes to a doctor to tell him about her son seeing monsters however she is turnt away as well as this we see a clip of her going to the police and reporting that someone is stalking her and her son. The voice over that says 'you cant get rid of the babadook' reinforces the recognition that they know something is haunting them and it won't go away. There are then various clips of the women shutting the windows and panicking that this thing is going to get them. The quick cut transitions in between clips consisting of mainly close up shots emphasises this recognition that there is something out there trying to get them and it makes the audience side with the victims because they are in danger.
Attempt to repair disruption: the mum tries to keep the babadook out by shutting all the windows and locking all the doors. However this does not repair anything as the babadook still haunts them and makes their lives worse. As well as this the mum then becomes evil and she cannot repair the disruption because she is becoming the disruption which is destroying their lives.
Reinstated equilibrium:
In a trailer the equilibrium is not shown to be reistated as this is used to create enigmas that will be answered for the audience when they go and see the film .
This particular trailer is quite strange in the conventions it includes as it does not use a jump scare at the end of the trailer. Jump scares are usually incorporated at the end of the trailer before the title of the film or after the film title as the audience are more likely to be scared as they think that it is over but all of a sudden there is more. However with this trailer there is more of the trailer after the title but it does not incorporate a jump scare which makes it even more scary for the audience because you are constantly waiting for the jump scare which never comes so you are more anxious wondering why. Instead of the audiecne being scared through a jumpscare the non diegetic and lighting in particular are features which scare the audience the most as they are highly artificial and non naturalistic therefore the sense of normality that was created completely disappears.