Deconstruction Of A Key Text

'The Others' (2001) Trailer

Short description from IMDB:
A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.


IMDB rating: 7.7

Shots

• Establishing shot of the house it is set in (shown twice once at the beginning and then again halfway through)

• Medium shots e.g. when the children are introduced and another of Mrs Mills and Lydia 

• Characters are mainly shown using close ups 

• Over the shoulder shots mostly used to show conversation 

• Reaction shots

• Overhead shot of Grace when she hears a noise upstairs

• Point of view shot when Grace is looking at the picture drawn by Anne 

Editing 

• Shot reverse shot for conversations 

• Eye line match for the drawing by Anne

Sound 

• Dialogue - sometimes used to overlap onto a different clip than what it actually occurs in and so seems to act as a sort of Voice over

• Diegetic sound - e.g. the door squeaking or slamming

• Non-diegetic sound such as the score

• There is a sound played over dramatic actions such as the curtains or the door opening 

Mise en scene 

• Location - the house (seen the the two establishing shots) is very big, dark inside and eerie looking from the outside

• Set design - all the sets are dark and add to the eerie atmosphere of the film

• Costume - fits with the period the film is set/when the characters were still alive 

• Common props from the film include the torches and a set of keys - both of which are shown in the trailer - the picture Anne draws is also a significant prop which is also seen in the trailer

• All colours seen in the film are dark colours

• Proxemics - Grace does not get physically close to many people - the only people she gets close to is her children 

• Gesture and posture - fits with how they would have been expected to act at the time - 'proper'  

Iconography

A haunted house

A screaming victim - female

Dark places where the evil 'being' lurks - the house is always dark due to the children's allergy to light

This trailer also follows every convention I listed that horror films usually have