Detailed Analysis of Locations - Eden Lake

The first location shown to the audience is an establishing shot of a city, showing that the characters are normal people from a normal everyday place. This introduces a state of equilibrium to the trailer to know that that is the normal. The shot is then contrasted with the following one of the road in which the main protagonists are driving on, but it is surrounded by greenery and trees showing that they are going out of equilibrium and doing something that is not of the norm. The next location shown is where they are going to a forest. A forest location is very typical of a horror film yet very effective due to the fact a forest is a remote location and therefore adds to the tension and drama of the trailer in that the audience feel scared for them. I feel this technique used is very effective for this trailer and therefore i will use it in my own production work, i will show the characters in a location which conveys a state of equilibrium and then contrast it with a secluded location which immediately puts the audience on edge and wonders what is going to happen. Following these shots, the next location shown is a long shot of a lake which is surrounded by countryside. This again enhances the feeling of seclusion and the fact that anything that goes wrong there will be hidden to the normal world, as the audience have already established that the trailer is one of a horror genre by this stage in the video due to music and editing, the fact the location is secluded allows the audience to already feel scared and anticipate what is going to happen. This is an important selling point of a horror trailer as it compels the audience to keep watching. Further more the fact the location is set at a lake again represents scary ideas such as drowning. Again a lake is a typical setting of a horror film, for example it has been used in others such as what lies beneath and is effective of providing that mysterious scary atmosphere to the trailer. Therefore i like the idea of using this locations also in my own trailer as it is guaranteed it will make the trailer scary and therefore attract it's target audience. In this video, with exception of the start of the trailer, the location doesn't change, this is good as it allows the trailer to be easily followed by the audience. The location in which the characters are in just becomes darker as things start to go wrong making everything seem dark and unclear which cleverly reflects how the characters are feeling. It is clear from this trailer that the location is very important in building that suspense and making the audience feel scared for the characters.