Saw III textual analysis

Purpose of film trailers A trailer is a form of advertising in which the purpose is to promote a new film to

potential audiences and aims to encourage people to buy the film or see it at the cinema.

The genre of a film is often represented in a trailer through the elements of mise-en-scene and cinematography techniques. For example, the editing in a horror film is likely to be fast paced and include camera shots such as extreme close ups, yet these elements are not likely to be found in a film from the romantic genre.

Similarly, the choice of actors in a trailer can also represent the target audience of a film giving them something to relate to.

The actors themselves can emphasise the genre if they are known for a particular genre of film. For example, actor Jim Carey is known for playing a role in comedies.

Trailers will often have a unique selling point (USP) to help it appear different from others of the same genre. This helps to attract audiences because a new release will appear different from previous trailers audiences may have seen before.

IntroductionSaw III is a 2006 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Leigh Whannell and story by James Wan and Whannell.The story follows Jeff after his son is hit and killed by a car; he is put in a series of tests by Jigsaw in order try and let go of his vengeance on the man that killed him. Meanwhile a bed-ridden John Kramer has ordered his apprentice Amanda Young to kidnap a doctor named Lynn, in order to keep him alive for one final test before he dies of cancer. Saw III also contains additional back-story about the two antagonists.

Narrative Within the trailer for Saw III we are able to see aspects of Todorov’s theory

in the sense that we see a sense of equilibrium in the fact that these characters are high status positions and they are abusing this power. We then see a sense of disruption when these people are taken to Jigsaw in which they are put in life or death situations. The resolution within this narrative comes from these people trying to escape from this fate and they lose characters along the way. And a sense of a new equilibrium in which these characters may or may not escape from Jigsaw, however this part of the narrative is left open ended within the trailer so that audiences will feel more inclined to see the film in wanting to know what happens in the end to these people.

Representation Within this film trailer we see some stereotypical representations for

example we see the representation that the upper class are somewhat corrupt or evil as we see that these characters within the trailer are being punished for their actions as they are shown to be abusing their power

Another Stereotype we see is also frequently seen in the horror movie genre is that women are portrayed as weaker and in need of saving. For example within the trailer we see that it is often the women who find themselves to be trapped or are more likely to be killed or caught by the villain.

Mise-en-sceneThe Mise-en-scene, within this film relates to the genre of horror due to the setting that is being used is mainly machinery . From this the location can be tell audiences that the movie is filmed within a set up factory, the film is about teaching people who are in high positions in life but abusing their privileges, an evil life threatening lesson. The characters within this film are all American and middle aged within their 40's and 30's, the majority of being white with one black American gentleman. There is a balance between Male and female characters/actors, which subverts stereotypes for horror films because, groups within horror films are usually either friends or couples of some sort that know each other, where as within this film, none of them are linked together socially. The use of props within this trailer is very typical to the horror film genre. Sharp contraptions, with fierce metal killing blades, Rough Beat up clothing for the ordeal's the characters have endured, sweating and hard body struggle and lastly dark rusty surroundings. Another aspect of Mise en scene that may be indicative of the horror genre is the fact that dim lighting is used this absence of light creates a mysterious atmosphere which leaves the audience wondering what is going to happen next.

Mise-en-scene –setting The setting for this trailer seems to follow the conventions of the horror genre due e

to the fact that within the trailer the majority of the action takes place in an isolated setting that is cut off from the rest of civilization as we see that the action takes within an abandoned factory which provides the backdrop for Jigsaw’s games

The second convention that this trailer follows in regard to setting is that it takes place in somewhere that has a dark history as we can learn from reading the films synopsis that this factory is somewhere that has had many deaths take place there making it an apt setting for a horror film

There is also heavy usage of the colour grey and black both which have connotations of mystery and uncertainty and may make the audience feel tense or uncomfortable.

Cinematography The camera shots being used in the film trailer are typical of the horror film Genre with many Close ups and Mid Close Ups, that are used to portray the fear and terror that is occurring within the film. Something different with camera shot's in the sense that a lot of the shots use an eye line match, almost like and over the shoulder shot. This is to show what the actor/character is looking at, almost trying to subjectively film. Within this film Zooms are used quite frequently to get a deeper insight in to the situation that is going on in the film. A lot of panning is used, The camera panning around the room as the characters are put in situations with objects to help them out. The camera Does a full 360 spin of the room capturing all of these items. One way that this trailer could be interpreted is that, the target audience would hate to be stuck in some of the situation's or ordeal's that the characters/actors are being placed in. This film Trailer creates fear and panic, the concept of the film being to teach those who are fortunate but abusing there fortune a hard lesson. By this The trailer will make it's target audience reconsider just exactly how there living there lives and also whether what happened to the actors could possibly happen to them in real life. This use of camera work could also be linked to Barthes’ theory as these camera angles will create tension within a scene and lead to a climactic event which is called the action code which is prominent in the horror genre as it is what makes these films scary.

Cinematography-close ups & extreme close ups Within this trailer close-ups are used in order to show how the audience is

reacting to the tense or uncomfortable situations that they have been put in for example within the trailer we see close ups of the characters when they are tied up with no possible means of escape and through these close up shots their fear is demonstrated to the audience and this will make them feel tense or on ‘the edge of their seat’ and wanting to know if the characters will survive these ordeals and therefore will feel more inclined to go and see film to find out what happens to these characters.

EditingThe pace of the editing is very quick, jumping form scene to scene in the trailer. the way the shots merge in to each other is very fast and loud similar to a door being slammed with a door back noise added in to the cuts. they have used special camera effects like CCTV, giving the viewer the whole view of the room from a camera in the top corner of the room and also giving an amateurish feel to the film. the montage is made up of a lot of machinery and mechanical objects and because in reality stopping mechanical items and objects is physically impossible unless another mechanical object is used to turn it of it is impossible' This creates the fear and tense atmosphere of whether or not the person is making it out alive or not. This can be linked back to the hermeneutic code as throughout the narrative of the trailer we get to learn about the characters and the reasons they have been placed in these situations. We also see the use of the cultural code as this particular film makes us question our own ideas about morality as we see two different ideas of what doing something bad is within this film.

Editing – fast cuts & parallel editing Towards the end of the trailer the pace of editing within the trailer speeds up significantly

towards the end of the trailer this is so that the most exciting clips of the film are placed evenly throughout the trailer so that the audience are kept interested throughout the trailer and will therefore feel more incline to go and watch it. However the editing does speed up towards the end so that the trailer is able to ‘save the best for last’ of the film, the audience is also more likely to remember these scenes as they will be fresh in their memory due to them being the last things they see.

Finally this piece also uses parallel editing to an extent that there are two different types of action happening within the scene for example we see multiple characters being shown playing Jigsaw’s games and the variety of ways that these characters are being subjected to frightening situations. This can be linked to the genre of horror as it represents the chaos of the situation and also that the characters are demonstrating fear.

SoundWithin this film trailer Diegetic and non-diegetic sound are used to indicate that this films genre is horror as through its use of diegetic sound there is the sound of these people screaming in fear or pain, which would obviously create a tense atmosphere as they are in a life threatening situation. We also have the non-diegetic sound of machinery. This might indicate the genre of horror as machinery is sometimes seen as intimidating and has connotations of violence and destruction which would make the audience feel like they are also in a tense situation. The use of sound can also be linked to Barthes’ theory of the semantic code as the audience will associate these sounds and objects with the death of characters. There is also the use of a voiceover from Jigsaw which overall makes the scene feel more threatening as those who have watched the Saw films before will associate this voice with fear and also be aware that he plays the role of the villain within this film.

Non-diegetic soundWithin this trailer we see that outside of the soundscape which the characters can hear that there is a voiceover coming from Jigsaw which is used in order to tell the story of what has happened so far within the Saw franchise as he speaks about ‘continuing with my work’ which would require the audience to know what this is so that they would understand what is being spoken about in this point within the trailer. A low tone of voice is used in order to make the voiceover have a more sinister feel to the trailer and makes the audience feel on edge as they will be spooked by the creepy voice and this will make them feel uncomfortable and at the same time intrigued to find out more about what’s happening in the trailer As we are not able to see the full linear narrative of the film the voiceover within the trailer bridges one part of the story to another.

Barthes’ enigma codes The purpose of a trailer is to create mystery surrounding the films release

and this theory can be applied to the Saw III trailer as it used throughout Within this trailer we see multiple uses of bible verses shown on the screen

this could be linked to Barthes theory as the semantic code could be used in order to determine that there might be a link between these characters committing sacreligious acts and being punished by Jigsaw.

We also see the action code used in the sense that without seeing the whole film we are unable to find out the fates of these characters so therefore in order to find this out audiences will go to watch the film.

Mode of addressThis trailer will indicate that this film comes from the horror genre as Halloween is a date that is associated with all things that are associated with the horror genre such as blood, death and fear.

The trailer talks to the target audience by using their website and twitter account as a synergistic technique. This form of advertising is relevant to the target audience as it can help people to raise awareness of the film through social networking. Also, with twitter if people start talking about the film, this all helps the promotion and raising awareness of the film.

Influences from this trailer we have decided to take influence from the suburban

setting of the house and decided this is one of the settings that we wish to use in our production

We have also decided to use close up camera shots in order to show the reaction of the characters to the various situations they are in so that the audience feels like they are a part of the action and feel the same emotions as them

We have also decided that we are going to be using fast paced editing in order to create a jumpy tense atmosphere within the narrative of our film and also so that the audience is left on ‘edge of their seat’

We also plan on using non-diegetic sounds such as soundtracks in order to create this tense atmosphere which is one of the conventions of the horror genre.