I may be seen as a touch obsessed with the film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, however its just simply because its such a good horror and for the work me and my group are dong it seems perfect to analyse and maybe even absorb some of the techniques and elements and apply them to our media piece.
The use of sound n the trailer isn't very loud or have many notes, the sound throughout is very subtle, the main reason for this is throughout there are a few loud noises, you recognise them and they have much more significance and effect when the rest of the noise is not so loud. The suspense throughout this trailer is maintained, you are given a taster of the film however the taster is watered down because allot of the noises are covered up through editing, my point being there is allot you see but there is even more you don't.
When the children are travelling in the car its basic, indie radio music very light in the background so you can clearly hear their speech above it. This music ends when they come across a girl/hitchhiker, then the music turns into heartbeat, this heartbeat although it isn't fast its a thumping beat, you hear this in the background when the hitchhiker says, "they're all dead." while the heartbeat noises are going on there are various shots of the group starting to conclude what to do next, what moves to make, also right at the beginning of the heartbeat, like in most horrors, they show some strange scenes, one is of a doll, a skeleton, a record player, the signature house, each shot perfectly matched with each heartbeat.
When one of the females is in the house, is when she hears a loud bang which is when the heartbeats end and after the bang, an eerie noise is played, then not so long after there is the noise of the chainsaw which is only a couple of seconds. The eeriness remains while the group explore and come across some strange things, you get two views of what is going on from the trailer as the group split into 2 smaller groups.
When the strange and eerie noises become revealed, each shot from then till the end of the trailer is ended with a photographic effect, snapshot of their faces for example, faded out in bright light then the next scene snapshot, fade out in bright light, the noise of the camera snapshot editing is very effective as the noise the camera makes is matched with the fade out light. This fadeout techniquee increases in speed till the credits at the end of the trailer begin when u hear a running girls footsteps and screams over the credits, u think the trailer is over then u hear slow footsteps and then it jumps back into the trailer where u see a chainsaw and many panic scenes of the children.
Although the trailer is very fast pace after the first introductory scenes, editing such as the camera effects added in slow the pace right down.
The editing techniques throughout the trailer are ones which i think are very effective also ones which i am hoping to have in our media piece to add the same effect.
The representation of people throughout this film is interesting, because you have two groups of people. One group who are used to the crazed "Leatherface" and then the tourists who get caught up in all of it. The extreme clash of reactions physiologically gets into your head, you have the tourists who are being slowly butchered, the one remaining tourist in the end seeks help from the occupants of the county, yet it is the occupant's who are sheltering "Leatherface." When she comes across the first of the people the state she is in is an extreme state of shock and fear, yet the reaction she got from the people was an extreme state of calm, when the two emotions clashed, the atmosphere was never at equilibrium, both parties where continuously trying to win each other over, the tourist trying to convince them "Leatherface" is coming and them talking about "Leatherface" as a local and that he wouldn't come into their home and disrespect them. Further into the movie you realise some of the characters are family members of this beast and feel very sympathetic and have no remorse for the lives he takes, again the clash of emotions, the antagonism of the tourist clashed with the sympathy of the family.
It shows men nor women to be more brave, mentally/physically stronger, the contrast of 2 groups of people, those in Texas who know and are used to this crazy man and life, and those who are faced with this alien and crazed ways of this county. On both sides you have men and women, if there is one change throughout the movie, it is the main female character from the tourist group, she seems the very innocent and needs taking care of type, however in the end she is the only one remaining, not only does she soldier and make it through the rain and escape, she along the way tried to save two members of her group and wasn't successful however then realised a baby had been stolen from the hitchhiker form the beginning and so she saved the baby. So there was a big transformation in her character from the beginning to what she was in the end, the last one standing, managing to hack off "Leatherface's" arm during the manic.
Personally i think the cast used to make the film, the tourist group, are the age group who this film is aimed at, the target audience, the age of the tourist groups is between 18-20 i would say, this is an age where when you do something, your more daring, you have those who don't for example Erin, from the movie but then what makes it a horror, even when you make good decisions bad things can happen, picking up the hitchhiker ended with most of them being killed in brutal ways, is when they don't want to do something but then they end up doing it anyways because most of the people you are with are doing it, peer pressure, not wanting to be left alone, all these things are the small things that lead up to the main thing, the main story where things always tend to go wrong and then they talk back and regret.