Analysis of Thriller Film Clip

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a typical example of a thriller film. This clip shows a very rapid overview of what you shoukd expect to find in the film. If you have watched the film befre, then you would realise that a huge majority of the storyline is exposed in this trailer. It exposes, criminals, victims, the revengeful woman, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, twisted relationships, missing person and female fatales. The physical side of the trailer shows, dimly lit, rainy scenes, torture basement, desolate roads and interior of cars. (tight spaces.)

They spent $2,382,534.80 on this film it did them justice. The film is brilliant and the trailer exhibits that. Their use of shots and how they have cut the trailer is very clever. Also the use of sound is innvoative, and of course there is a narrater. The trailer shows states on venerability, on 0.17 seconds there is a shot of Lisebeth Salander following/chasing a criminal which shows the criminal is venerable. It is a great shot because it shows the side of the car and the full view of the motorbike, showing that she is gaining speed on him. The shot the cuts to a close up of her helmet, (the audience don't know who is on the motorbike) it then cuts to a shot of the side of the motorbike and the back of the car in full view/ or a long shot of the car. this again is showing the venrability of the character and the audience know that something is about to happen. However the sound on the last scene (from 0.17 seconds) there is a narrater and faded sound of the motorbike, it cuts to a quote and some graphics, then cuts back to the motorbike scene, but the sound is a lot louder and really emphasises the desparation of the victim in the car. The girl on the motorbike the takes off her helmet and her identity is revealed. Unexpectely it is a gothic/punky girl who is chasing the victim.

The sudden change of image is quite alarming, the loud strike of the match comes as a surprise, the screen goes black, all you can hear is the sound. this is possibly because thhey don't want to give away what happens of who causes the next scene. An explosion is the next visual image. However the film implies that whoever had the match causes the explosion. It then cuts back to the road with a 'point of view'shot, with the typical conventions of a thriller film, a darkly lit, rainy desolate road. This shot tells the audience that something is about to happen, that someone is going to do somethng. In contrast to the typical thriller shots, it also has graphical shots of text, possible emphasising the story line to a further extent. it gives a structure to the trailer and cuts up the film. I think it makes the audience anticipate and maybe surprised by the next scene of what is to come. The screen of "a missing GIRL" is closely followed by  shot of Lisbeth Salander and Blomkvist (the journalist), her image is quite alarming. Then it continues to an extreme close up of, who we assume the missing girl is, a pretty young lady.

It cuts to the graphical text again "a brutal MURDER". By putting the word "murder" in capital locks, this really emphasises the point that it is going to be a thriller film, that it is going to be a bit scary and the missing girl was murdered. This is closely followed by a long shot of a car, establishing the mise-en-scene to be snowy, isolated and very cold. It also shows the venerable state of the car and whoever is in it. The trailer then cuts to an clip of the Vanger household, a big daunting looking house that is very old, suggesting that this is where the "brutal MURDER" took place.

Following that shot is the image of a dead womens feet, sticking out the end of a barn, this leaves the mind to wonder who she is, is it the missing girl? is she really dead? when was she murdered? who murdered her? is it at the Vanger mansion? (etc) Then as expected a generic location of the thriller genre, the inside of a car, raining which is another convention. The murdered girl exaggerates the point that Blomkvist and Salander (the two people in the car) are heavily involved with the missing girl/the murder. Blomkvist turns to look at Salander, this implies that something did not go to plan, or something else has happened that has put a fault in the plan. The graphical text appears again "an unsolved MYSTERY". This text suggests that maybe she wasn't murdered, somebody definitely murdered, but was it the missing girl or somebody else? was it a mistake? etc.

To put a twist on the trailer there is a flashback, which the audience assume it is the missing girl and the start of her story and what happened to her. However we don't know if the two main characters know of this memory/story. It shows that the girl in the scene is worried, scared, and running from someone. "how CLOSE can YOU GET" followed again by a long shot of a car passing over a bridge, but showing different weather, this implies that Blomkvist and Salander have been working on this case for quite some time. (through different seasons)

In the next shot, the sound of the music heighten, getting louder as the intensity of the trailer increases. A panning shot of Blomkvist shows confusion, maybe realisation, something to do with case, this suggests that something major has happened within the storyline that they do not want to expose int eh trailer, but simply imply. The shot cuts to a loud sound of glass breaking and the moving image to go with it. Blomkvist has broken into someone's house, maybe to uncover some secret or to investigate something. "to the TRUTH" suggests that the truth does out and it is unveiled to all. However it cuts to a scene of Salander being attacked, which twists the storyline once again.

At 1.00 there is a blurred shot to show that someone is a villain, to show tht they are in the wrong and what they are doing  is criminal However their identity remains hidden throught the blurry shot. "before YOU" graphical text, is contacting the audience directly and making a link between the audience and the film. The graphics are followed by a medium close up shot of Salander looking fearful and worried about something this tells the audience that she is possibly in danger. It then cuts to a long shot of Salander with a man, implying that she is fearing the man that was suspected in the previous shot. He closes the blinds implying that he wants to find out or to do something very private as they are the only ones in the room. In contrast this, the following shot is of Blomkvist lying in his bed, and a wedge of light grows wider on his face, clearly a door opening, someone trying to get to him. To the audience this could mean that both the main characters are in danger, and that there might be an un-expected twist in the plot. The clip cuts to a violent shot of the man we saw closing the blinds about to hit something or someone. This suggests that because the audience think the main characters are in danger, that is could be either of the two in peril. 

"become the TARGET" is the next piece of text.  The fragmented sentance creates a really big effect on the audience, it tells part of the plot as well, giving hints about the film. Therefore expectedly the next shot is of Blomkvist looking venerable and scared for himself.He should be scared because the next section of the clip implies that there is some kind of torture device involving rope (A wince, a hangmans nouse) being wound up tighter and tighter. After that, there is another shot of Lisbeth walking across the bridge, alone and looking like she is in a hurry. The weather is grim and dark. After the peacefulness of the bridge that she walks over, in contrast to this there is a sudden scream and a clip of Salander screaming, the audience were right in thinking she was in danger, quite clearly, something happened to her.

Surprisingly it cuts to a shot of Blomkvist jogging through a forrest, alone, then it instantly cuts to the car that we saw right at the beginning of the clip again, to re-iterate that mystery, but that scene was also there to break up what Blomkvist was doing in the forrest, he gets shot at but misses the bullet and falls to the mossy ground. However it then cuts to an image of Salander lying, naked, suspicious of something, but in a comfortable environment.

Changing the tone of the clip, we see a figure smashing/breaking the rope that the audience thought would have put Blomkvist in danger. The audience probably suspect Salander of saving him, as the rope snaps and we see Blomkvist fall to the floor. Then the scene cuts to a shot of Salander running out of a building with a weapon initially to hurt somebody, we instantly see her smash a car window of somebody trying to get away from the scene.

The clip then shows Salander topless, looking deviant, almost instantly it cuts to an image of somebody with a tattoo of a dragon on their back, bending down, (who could this be?) Possibly contradicting the whole film, Salander and Blomkvist kissing. It represents love and compassion for one another, also because they have enforced so much hatred upon those who were the villains. This must confuse people to, as they are known as work associates.

Out of the blue, a plane lands in the sunny plains of a rural area in a warm climate. However the audience do not know exactly where it is, although they know it is different to where they have spent at least 3 seasons. The audience then know that someone has made a discovery in another land. Possibly to do with the missing girl. However contradicting that, we then see someone holding a gun to Blomkvist, one of the Vangers, maybe threatening Blomkvist because of his find in this far away land, maybe even because he murdered the missing girl.

The clip cuts to a car crashing, clipping the end of something. A flash of the country in warm climate, maybe where the discovery has been made, and then back to the man in the car, which is a generic convention of a thriller film. He is losing control of the car, a flash of Blomkvist is bright light, which shows the contrast between the two situations, then back to the car that we saw as one of the first images, rolling down a hill. Cuts to somebody getting out of a car in sunlight, again showing the contrast between the two situation. Also the low angle camera shots shows the importance of the person. Then an extreme close up of who we assume to be Blomkvist, opening a cupboard to reveal pictures, of who we can not see the identity, and then an extreme close up of Salander.

Finally the last image is of the car that was seen right at the start, rolling down a hill at speed, crashing, probably to its death. Ending with daunting graphics "the girl with the dragon tattoo".