Solo trailer review - The Grudge 2004

The Grudge, 2004, is a green band psychological horror and thriller directed by Takashi Shimizu.

What happened in the trailer?
During this short one and a half trailer, a montage of mundane, ordinary and everyday tasks are being illustrated at the beginning, portraying the equilibrium that the film once had. Between clips, black text appears, overlaying the effect of long black hair swiping across the screen, representing the motif of the antagonist character; the “Grudge”. Collision cutting separates the equilibrium from the disruption, allowing the audience to see the action beginning. Going from slow paced montages to quick also makes the audience feel alarmed and due to the second long shots of the grudge, makes their hearts race faster. A voice over of the protagonist character begins over montages of her walking around a house stating “The whole time I was in that house..I felt something was wrong. What happened there?”  As the text adds more detail to the narrative for the audience, the trailer ends with “It never forgets” in parallel with the action occurring; tormenting the female protagonist whilst living in that home.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
The aspects within the trailer that I personally liked and felt I could include in my trailer were; the motif of the hair trail, the collision cutting, the quick montages and the voiceovers. Using the motif of the hair enables the audience to recognise the film just by this object. Seeing this object will then signify the film and be stuck in the mind of the audience. By adding this to the background of the text meant that the text becomes more visually eye catching and appealing whilst additionally adding subtle hints of horror.

The second aspect, collision cutting, was a feature that I felt highlighted the psychological sub-genre. By including this feature, the action changes from slow to fast which illustrates the action within the trailer going from normal to chaotic. Doing this makes the audiences hearts race and can make them jump or feel on edge. By doing this, I feel as if it would be a great way to scare the audience by sudden alterations such as music going from quiet to loud.

The quick montages were another way that I felt the trailer took the interest of the audience. Fitting more scenes into the trailer at a fast pace meant that the audience will not get tiresome of the action on screen and they will also get more information about the narrative. I will be putting quick montages into my own trailer during montages to gain the interest of the audience and to feed them with adrenalin.

The last aspect that I thought was inspiring for my own trailer was the voice over. This is a feature that also helps to contribute to the amount of information being given to the audience. Playing over the action being seen helps to describe what is going on as addition to watching more scenes.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
Aspects of the trailer that I felt were disappointing and would be discarded when focusing on my trailer were; the music, the length of the trailer and the flash effect that occurs through the quick montages.

When focusing on the music, I feel that it wasn’t dramatic enough to create a fearful atmosphere. Keeping at the same rhythm meant that not all of the action was parallel to the music.

Having the trailer only one and a half minutes in length meant that the audience didn’t get enough scenes, action, jump scares or information based on the narrative to really understand in depth whether this film is for them.

Although the quick montages were a positive aspect of the trailer, I felt that the flashes in between clips gave a nauseating, clichéd effect that made it difficult to follow and take in what was happening in the clips.

Personal rating? Why did i give that mark?
As an overall rating of this trailer, I would give it a 5/10 due to the fact that the trailer was too short, didn’t give me enough information to know if I want to watch it and because of the music that wasn’t rhythmic and dramatic enough.