Last House on the Left Trailer Analysis

Setting

The setting for this film is an isolated house near a lake, there are no other houses near by which creates a sense of desperation when things begin to go wrong in the film because no one can help. This is conventional of horror movies because it isolates the characters and creates more danger for them. We become aware of the fact that the house is isolated very early on in the trailer, we are shown a close-up of a sign reading 'Lake ends in the Road' and also hear the characters name the title of the film whilst they are travelling there.

Technical Code

The trailer begins with an establishing shot which reveals a silver 4x4 car driving along a road, connoting an average American family. The camera tracks the car and tilts upwards which focuses our attention on the moving vehicle. A soft piano soundtrack is used at the beginning to create a sense of normality. We hear the dialogue of the characters and hear them speak about the 'last house on the left' that they are travelling to.

Throughout the trailer there are many close-ups of the main girl Mary, allowing the audience to identify with her. A two shot is used to introduce Mary's mother who is sat beside her in the car. The fact that Mary is driving also implies that she is the protagonist. 

At the beginning of the trailer the editing is slow paced, the shot transitions used are dissolves, which suggest a softer atmosphere. As the tension is built up, with help from the sound effects and non-diegetic music the editing pace increases, and the dissolves are replaced to cuts to black between different frames. A percussion noise is used between shots for continuity and acts as a soundbridge between settings. It almost sounds like a crashing noise which implies thunder.

Once the main action has taken place the villains travel to the nearest house (subsequently the house of the protagonist), depth of frame is used to show the same sign that was displayed in the beginning, in the foreground of the shot, but in the background of the shot we are shown the villains. This suggests that the villains are heading towards the same place that the victims are located, suggesting danger for the victims. The mise en scene also helps to connote this, with the use of rain and dark lighting.

When the villains arrive back home, a louder crashing noise shows that this is where the danger has begun. The piano has stopped and all we hear is a tense and quiet beat in the background through the loud and aggressive dialogue as it explains the story behind the villains. Many diegetic sound effects are used to assist what is being shown in the trailer such as gun shots, a door frame snapping, a girl hitting her head and knives being removed from racks. The crashing noise is used consistently throughout the trailer and is also used when the text appears on the screen.

 The interesting thing about this trailer (the main reason I chose it) is when the non-diegetic music kicks in when the parents discover their daughter lying almost dead on the porch. The song is a cover of 'Sweet Child of Mine' by Guns and Roses, but instead is sung by a female singer. It is quite contrasting to what is happening on the trailer as we hear screams and shouting interrupting the song, however it is very relevant to the plot of the film.

The realisation that the villains have arrived at the house of their victim is shown in a very intense moment, a close-up of the villain reveals a shocked expression and a eyeline match is then used to show us a picture of the victim which is zoomed in on. This is a POV shot which puts us in the eyes of the villain, used quite conventionally in horror to put the audience in a situation where they are the killer. The shot also appears handheld as it is quite shaky and representative of his emotions. We then see a reaction shot of the villain as he realises that he is inside his victim's house.

Flashes of lightning are then used to move from shot to shot as the realisation dawns on the characters and the parents of the victim discover that their daughter and themselves are in danger. The lighting throughout these scenes is ambient, and a beam of light is used to suggest a torch when they discover their daughter lying on the porch.
A recurring theme in the trailer is the use of a crane shot, this shot is repeated several times throughout the trailer and it shows the protagonist lying face up in the lake. This suggests that she is dead, but because of the reoccurence we are unsure of when she dies along the narrative.

Iconography
The main colours in the trailer are black and blue, the black is used to connote danger and evil, conventional of most horror films, but instead of the typical red used for blood, the main colour apparent in the trailer is blue. Perhaps to indicate the importance of water in the film.
Low key lighting is used heavily to give an eerie and ambigious setting. The trailer also contains props which are conventional of horror, such as knives and large surburbian houses. But one prop which is quite unusual of horror is the use of the gun. I think that the gun is used to show possibly a weakness in the villains. The fillm is set in America and it is quite typical for American's to use guns for protection, the villains are portrayed as criminals and have no supernatural qualities like villains in most horror films, which is probably why the victims find it quite easy to kill them with only the aid of a knife.

Narrative structure

This film seems to go against most narrative theories in horror, it is a revenge story, and instead of there being a final girl it is the protagonist and her family that survive and help conquer the villains. Although Mary did survive from the horrific trauma she suffered from the villains, her friend did not, which is similar to the final girl theory but Mary does not defeat the villains alone like most 'Final girls' do.

Character Types

This film contains a main protagonist, Mary, who is attractive and also sexualised early in the trailer, but unlike most characters in horror films, she does not die but appears to be punished. The film contains a group of villains, who appear as some kind of disfunctional family, containing both females and males and also a young teenage male who attracts the protagonist and her friend to the danger in the first place. There is one teenager who dies in the film, being Mary's friend Paige, but she is not represented any less intellectual or any more sexualised than Mary, making it seem unconventionally cruel that she dies. This film doesn't contain any kind of law enforcement, which is also unconventional of horror but does add to the isolation factor, making the situation more desperate and difficult to handle.

Themes

The film does contain binary oppositions, good vs evil is shown through the characters, although with the young male is questionable whether he is truly a villain or not.
This film seems to support the idea that horror is based on the three classic novels from the 1900's; Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula. This film is based on Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the sense that there is hidden evil inside all of us, we can relate to the main character and her parents, and are surprised by the revenge story. It becomes something that we could all be capable of to protect the ones that we love. Thus giving into that evil that we all apparently have inside in order to protect our loved ones.

Overall, this film contains many conventions that are typical of horror, particularly technical ones such as camerawork and setting, however the plot of this film is not very typical and the narrative structure does not support many of the theories I have learnt about.