Hostel Trailer Textual Analysis

Textual Analysis of “Hostel” trailer

In the beginning of the trailer we are presented with a establishing shot of an abandoned place, which is conventional in horror genres which always show us run down places with which the movies takes place. Afterwards text is shown on the screen which is basically describing the movie’s plot to us but in separate shots for greater effect. They are displayed in bright, hot-looking letters and in a simple font.

The entire trailer from the start contains extreme and close-up shots of various graphic images that cut away to black to save us from the visuals; a perfect example in the clip shows an extreme close up of a toe about to be cut off with a clamper. We are then presented with a character from the film, the camera is middle level and flat framed showing us everything that we need to see. He wears nothing but underwear for clothing, connoting the feeling of isolation. He even looks terrified as the lights flicker in the room. The camera work in this movie trailer is very still, almost controlling us to watch gruesome images.

Trailers are, simply put a whole montage of shots edited together to add impact, to provide us with flashes from the movie and fade to blacks to keep the audience hooked. At the start, the trailer pace of speed is slow but then it quickly builds up to a fast pace. The music also adds to this, drums and a deep male chorus to keep the suspension up. The main bulk of the trailer is full of inverse shots which are very negative.

The colour design of this trailer is brown and orange. The entire feel of this clip looks grimy, muddy and dirty which is evident in a lot of shots of the clip. Even the lighting is low key, giving the whole thing a depressing feel to it, which in some ways could be the many unique selling points of the movie.

The only voice-over in the whole clip is right at the end, where the dialog says the title of film itself for extra impact. Like in the build-up of every trailer, music plays a vital part. The soundtrack consists of strings, chants and low temp. Diegetic sounds like screams, the sound of the drill and drips of water all help to create the atmosphere and horror of this gruesome and horrible graphic movie.