Like, A milliion years later, I do my film blog assignment. It's to do a commentary on this Trailer:
Solitude — Movie Trailer from Mike Skocko on Vimeo.
I'm not really sure if he wants me to do the entire thing or not, so I'll do a little of everything just to be sure, since it's already late and all.
Mis En Scene
In this trailer your eyes generally get dragged all over the place, but not forcibly. You get stuck on something and then the slightest interruption gets attention. Of course, I don't mean like you get distracted by something like a pencil moving or anything. The director doesn't move the camera much, thus creating a huge effect: You get attracted to what's in the foreground, but the transitions, when the camera does move, and the background pulls your attention to the important parts. For example this scene:
The kids just arrive, and the as they get themselves settled, the camera leads the audience to the phone, which is obviously left on and has a dial tone for some reason. You can clearly see the blurred legs of the kids, but the audience gets drawn in to the phone. The director utilizes this type of shot to establish something wrong. I mean, if you had a phone that was already on, what would you think? That someone was there, that something must of happened to make them in such a rush to not hang up(be it something trivial or dire depends entirely on your disposition of course). Most importantly, it establishes tension.
One of my favorite shots is this though:
It starts from a completely black frame, where I personally got confused, but then when the door Opened and the light spilled in, the kids coming in making a fuss settling themselves I immediately thought: How Creative! Though it probably isn't the first time it's been applied in a film, it was interesting that he put this in.
The change in light from No key to a bright low key blinds the audience for a moment, then quickly adjusts their vision to the sight of kids coming in.
Though I can't really say there isn't a lot of editing, there isn't too little editing either. The director uses a good amount of cuts, with some lengthy footage every now and then. But as mentioned before, the effect created is pretty phenominal,
Take this shot for example:
The shot starts with the simple one shot of the girl crying. Clearly showing some fear, then it just intensifies when the camera moves and reveals the guy taped to the wall. Talk about sweeping the dust under the rug. The director utilizes the fact that the audience only sees what's on screen and in the frame, and manipulates that effect by revealing the other sides of the setting. It got my heart jumping, that's for sure.
The Music was fitting. Creepy, suspenseful, nerve-wracking. But most importantly, it had those small effects that people don't really notice, but influence them alot. For example in the earlier scene the music stops, when its the one shot of the girl, but nobody notices. It's just something that's not there to mingle with her sobs is all. Then the music just BOOMS when the camera moves and reveals the poor guy on the wall.
Tactfully, what gets me the most is surprisingly what ISN'T on screen. Bet this cross your mind way too many times: What got them? Amazing effect, and utilizes the audiences' fear and imagination. After all, fear varies from person to person, and what fear really is, is actually not knowing. You don't know what's in the dark, so you are afraid of it. You don't know how they're alive, so you're afraid of Zombies. You don't know if you can kill them, so you're afraid of vampires and werewolves. You can't see what's behind you. You don't know what's behind you. So you tentively get paranoid if you're alone, and it's quiet. Of course this only applies to those who actually have said respective fears.
The actors in the movie are just people, so their costumes didn't really stick out--which is a good thing in some cases--and they didn't suddenly change from one scene to another when they were supposed to be the same, so the Continuity Secretary did a good job, don't you think? The shot in the car however...the placement was awkward, and it seemed to make the actors awkward in my eyes as well.
The writing and idea itself if pretty damn interesting. It catches your eye, and is bound to make you jump here or there. Even if only for a little. It's making me paranoid just sitting here on my own couch thinking about it! Hah. But I'm just a little scaredy cat so it doesn't really matter anyway.
I suppose that is all I have to say. So...ENDPOST.
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