Trailer Analysis: Quarantine

For the trailer for the film Quarantine, the very start of the trailer starts off with showing the local television reporter who is the primary protagonist of the film, following her as she documents the lives of local fire fighters in California. By showing her in this safe, secure area, the viewers of the trailer are lulled into a false sense of security for what is yet to be revealed in the trailer. This is to scare the viewer when they see the actual reveal of the “infected” characters, after the tension has been ramped up in the trailer after the fire fighters are shown quickly rushing to an apartment building, the television crew following under the pretence that they are going to be shown the fire crew in action, not knowing what is actually going to unfold. The technique has been used in various other horror type films, making the audience feel as though they are witnessing events just as the person apparently making the video witnessed them. The idea that the film is being presented from the point of view that these are secret government files that we are witnessing, heightening the tension as the idea that the government are showing people this video to the public due to them themselves being worried about the “quarantine”. The trailer gives us the information about the premise of the film, still keeping in with the idea that it has come from a government source, with the scrolling type writer style writing, often seen in shows such as “The X-files”, a horror television show. The trailer then changes to its focus to the apparent contains of a camera that is found by various men in hazmat suits searching the building shown in the start of the trailer. The video itself found in the camera often fast forwards throughout the trailer, as though it is only showing key glimpses of the film while fast forwarding through scenes, which will not give away the overall key plot points of the film while focusing more on the horror side of the film, while also connoting the sense of desperation and turmoil with which the characters are in at these chosen moments in the film, sometimes increasing the tension that is given off from the scenes.

When we are given a glimpse of the main title of the film, we see the word “Quarantine” surrounded by green colouring. The green colour connotes the idea of sickness and illness, which is often why real life quarantines take place, to try and stop an illness or disease from spreading into the main population. The quarantine in the film is the main reason why all the main characters in the film are together. The shaking of the word Quarantine comes across as though it is from old footage again, much like when a videotape loads up and blurs the footage. This keeps with the idea of the found footage technique which is the main premise of the film, and still putting across that the footage is “real”.

The film is also set in the state of California, putting across that the events that occur during the film are happening in an ordinary area of the world, making it known that this sort of event could happen anywhere including where they possibly live. The night vision camera shots of the trailer put various shots out of proper focus, making the audience more confused as to what is actually on show from the trailer, and by the shots being not completely focus the audience have to imagine on what is being “shown”, which is known to be a convention in horror films, which heightens the tension of the audience from guessing at the events that are occurring and what the characters are being shown. This disorientation not only shows the characters own disorientation, but also the viewers. The quick cuts that occur throughout the trailer also may disorient the view of what is being shown to the viewer, so that they may be left anxious and wanting to see the film to learn what is actually being shown in the whole context.

The film also swaps between shots quickly of different scenes of panic amongst the various characters, shots of the different characters running along characters, as well as close ups of the various characters faces showing their panic in the scene, most notably shown in the final scene where the main character of the TV presenter in the film being dragged away from the camera. From these various close up shots the audience already early on manage to get an understanding and an emotional connection to the characters, instead of the audience just getting a basic understanding of the characters and no connection.

We are also only shown vague shots of the “infected” characters, and are left to imagine what the actual infected characters look what, once again heightening the tension of the film, making it clear what genre this film is actually in and following suit of other trailers in the genre. The infected characters that are glimpsed in the trailer are similar to the zombie characters seen in films such as “Dawn of the Dead”, and other similar zombie films. The infected appear to be like more aggressive, disorientated humans, except with extra strength. The fact that they are so similar to real humans shows the fear that humans have of seeing how easily it could happen and that it could happen to anyone.

The trailer provides basic information for the characters of the film, showing the main character who appears to be the damsel in distress type character, trapped in the quarantined building and needing to be rescued. The woman is recognisable as a TV news reporter, a character type recognisable due to the fact that most people watch the news and will have seen these reporters at some point on television

The genre of the film is easily distinguishable in the trailer, with the trailer moving from an everyday news report to a scenario where the characters are trapped in the housing apartment block with infected characters. The music in the trailer also connotes the genre, with the orchestral string sounds rising in volume as the shots of the characters panicking in scenes plays. The sounds in the trailer also connote the genre of horror, with computer generated sound effects playing in when the scene is cut to a different one quickly, with the computer generated sounds matching the idea of the video footage being affected.

The audience of the film is young adults around the age of 20, who enjoy horror films. The trailer appeals to this group of people due to the trailer showing the specific genre connotations such as showing tense scenes which would get the audience nervous and keep them gripped, as well as showing just enough information to give the audience the basic information of the film, whilst also leaving enough information out so that the viewer will want to come and see the film, to find out all the information in the film.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3133276441/ - Link to trailer for Quarantine