Hide and Seek Trailer Analysis

Credits/ intertitles

This trailer shows the actors names and the title of the film, Hide and Seek. These titles are on black backgrounds with white writing. This may draw the audience’s attention to the famous faces and cause them to want to see the film. The final intertitle is ‘If you want to know the secret, you have to play the game’. This title challenges the audience and suggests they have to put themselves in danger to uncover the secret behind the plot.

Dialogue

David, Emily’s father says “Right now I need to be a full time dad”. This is irony as he is not being her father half the time and being somebody else. He is causing the dangerous situation that Emily is in.

When Emily says “It was Charlie” it seems strange as the child who is naïve knows more than her father and makes the audience intrigued as they wonder who Charlie could be.

“Charlie come out come out where ever you are” is a typical line from the game, hide and seek, but is made to sound frightening and eerie.

Genre

This film is of the thriller genre as it uses suspense, exciting scenes and tension in the story line. It also stimulates the audience’s mood causing them to feel anticipation, anxiety and terror. This is shown in the trailer by scary messages on the wall which will confuse and exhilarate the audience and also characters which cause an exciting and eerie mood.

Narrative

The trailer shows a family haunted by their father’s split personality as he attacks numerous people as the story unfolds. Throughout the trailer the audience is led to believe that ‘Charlie’ is Emily’s imaginary friend who is causing the attacks therefore Emily must be behind it. However it is later revealed in the film that her father David has a split personality and that Charlie is not imaginary at all.

Pace

The pace of this trailer is very slow as it shows in detail relevant scenes that are intense and disturbing. This, with the slow music, puts the audience on edge and causes them to question every action the characters make. The pace then gets very fast at the end showing scary shadows and the little girl looking frightened. The pace is contrasted which makes the ending even more exhilarating and nail biting.   

Shot types/ camera angles

The trailer begins with an establishing shot of New York City showing that this story is believable and anyone could be in this scenario.

There are lots of close up shots used in this trailer of the girls face to show the innocence and purity as she seems so unaware of the frightening events. This causes the audience to feel for this character and want her to be safe.

There are also long shots used to suggest someone is watching the child from afar and analysing her every move. The audience could find this perturbing and not understand whose perspective it is from.

Target audience

The target audience for this film has a big age range as it could interest a multitude of people. This is because the different ages in the film and the complicated plot line could be challenging and mysterious for the audience.

Unique selling point

The unique selling point of this film is the twist in the middle which means the audience cannot anticipate the ending. When the audience realises that David is also Charlie it is an interesting complex storyline which shows a roller-coaster of emotions.