Research - Gothika

Gothika is more of a horror than a thriller, however it does show a good use of the codes and conventions to create the horror genre.

In the beginning it starts of calm, with talking. However the characters are shown through a cage, in an enclosure, this sets the scene for the audience making them feel insecure due to the two characters being in this change atmosphere. The camera is showing the characters through the meshed cage making the audience feel as outsiders and observers. However extreme close ups are used to show each of their emotions, being pulled into the drama straight away. One woman is dressed smartly and to emphasise her professional look the title 'expert' is shown and the other looks messy in a hospital gown. She makes the audience feel at unease due to her unstable character and this is emphasised through the cage.

Throughout the trailer there is low key lighting giving an uneasy and scary atmosphere, the darkness creates a fearful setting of the unknown and is representing the dark storyline of the trailer. You instantly know something bad is going to happen because of this. The heavy rain shown also emphasises this and gives a pathetic fallacy by represents the mood of the film, it is used to heighten the drama and there is a screeching sound just before as the girl appears which will make the audience jump. The shaky camera gives an unstable and fast pace feeling making the audience almost feel part of the action with the close ups and reaction shots used. The loud bang and the flash of light also makes the audience jump with the music heightening and all of these codes used you can get the audience terrified. After the crash it becomes quiet and fades to black for a few seconds, which calms the viewer after the heightened moment earlier, until the girl screams where a loud bang occurs and the screeching scream will make the viewer jump and be more scared than before because of the calm representation shown.

As the trailer goes on the main character changes from a professional psychologist to a messy mental patient. This dramatic change is what the audience what to find out; why? and how? this is the message for the trailer and the audience will find out by then watching the film. After the crash she wakes up in a mental hospital unaware of what happened and this is the key moment in the trailer as it focuses on the question before. The music becomes louder and the scenes cut more quickly making it fast paced. There are lots of close ups of the main character and other characters, this trailer relays on the close ups to show the emotion of the characters and this is a key factor for the trailer as bad things are happening to her. With these close ups the audience are given a more subjective view and makes them feel more involved to what is happening.

This trailer will be useful to use as research because of the way the camera, editing, sound and mise en scene are combined and used together to create a spooky and uneasy trailer. We will use some of these techniques in our trailer to achieve the same mood and feel.