Chaneesa- Textual Analysis of a Teaser Trailer

Film Title: Basement Jack

Year of Release: November 2009

Director: Michael Shelton

Producers: Eric Peter-Kaiser and Brian Patrick O’Toole

Production/Financing: Black Gate Entertainment and Island Gateway Films

Actors: Tiffany Shepis, Billy Morrison, Lynn Lowry and Eric Peter-Kaiser

Film Origin/Info:  Second part of loose trilogy.

Synopsis: Karen Cook would soon be known as the lone survivor of a seven-day killing spree perpetrated by a seventeen year old boy the world would come to call Basement Jack. For the next eleven years, Karen Cook lived in fear that one day Basement Jack would be released. Then, a court hearing in 2006 found that Jack Riley had not received a fair trial and he was released from a state institution. A year later, murders baring a shocking resemblance to Basement Jacks around the town of Downers Grove. Karen Cook that the only option left to her was to find Jack and kill him.

Basement Jack is the second part of a loose trilogy written and produced by Brian Patrick O’Toole. The first film is called ‘Evilution’ and both movies have scenes set in the same apartment building called the Necropoliton.

This textual analysis will be focusing on the teaser trailer for the second part of the trilogy ‘Basement Jack’, which was distributed by ‘Black Gate Entertainment’. The teaser is 42 seconds in length, which is a very good time for a teaser trailer.

The teaser opens up with a man who is dressed like a janitor who is in a dark looking room resembling a basement; he has a flashlight in his hand which he is shining to see if anybody is there. There is no sound heard at this point which connotes loneliness and a cold atmosphere. ‘BORN INTO DARKNESS’ is written in white writing is also seen on the screen.

A fade transition follows to a woman in the kitchen, the woman seems like a zombie with a white mask on so we cannot see her face she also has blood all over her. In the woman’s right hand she is holding a butchers knife but the audience is unaware what the object is in her left hand. There is sound effects of a heart beat and non-diagetic sound of loud charms, these sound are also synchronous because the sound goes with image moving. There is a colour effect on the image shown making it seem unrealistic or resembling a flashback or dream.

A sharp fade follows and returns to the janitor in the basement, it is a long shot of the janitor with his back towards the camera. The audience is then introduced to a new character, who is holding a machete, we cannot see the face of this person as we can only see the person’s back. When the character is introduced, a quick light (high key lighting) shines on the character’s hand and machete where we see blood all over it. For the audience this causes tension as we know the janitor is in trouble. In this shot white writing ‘DRIVEN BY RAGE’ appears on the screen while the character is walking towards the janitor.

14 seconds into the teaser we still haven’t heard any diegetic sound, this gives the audience an idea of mystery as all we can hear is the sharp non-diegetic sounds. We realise that the narration is done by the texts appearing in a number of shots.

There is a sharp cut to another part of a house; it appears as if it is the dining room, this shot is also moderately bloody. There are three people sitting around a table, one of them has no head and blood is splattered on the entire table and on the people that are sitting there. This is a quick shot; the transition into the next shot is a flash of light. It then returns to the basement as the man walks closer to the janitor. As this happens the heartbeat gets faster.

The shot followed is of a medium close up of a man with half of a face, his eyes are still opened as if he died in shock. This shot looks like it is in another part of a house, near a window as the audience can see it in the background. This shot also only lasts a second as if it is a still image or a flashback.

As the sound effect of the heartbeat increases, the tension for the audience also increases. Another still image of a woman with blood gushing from her neck appears on screen. We know she is dead as there is no sign of life in her.

When creating a teaser trailer, the pace is one the important key factor that is involved. From the beginning of the teaser, the pace is reasonably quick however, as the heartbeat gets quicker the flashing images and non-diegetic sounds also increase in pace which contributes to the tension. Towards the middle of the teaser, the fades turned into quick, sharp cuts. 25 seconds and onwards of the teaser the pace slowed down and the fast cuts turned back into the fades.

After seeing the image of the woman, there is a cut back to the basement where a close up is used. At this point the heartbeat has stopped which may connote the end of life as you need a heartbeat to survive. The janitor turns around and we see his facial expression, it remains as a close up. As the janitor turns his face towards the camera the non-diegetic sound disappears, it fades to complete darkness.

Just as the audience believe the trailer is over, a skull appears on screen revealing the title ‘BASEMENT JACK’ in capital letters but the word JACK is bold. This then fades away into “EVIL HAS A NEW ADDRESS.....YOURS!” it then fully fades to black.

A teaser trailer doesn’t have to give away the entire plot of a film as the aim of a teaser is to entice people and make them want to see it. I believe this teaser trailer does this very well. I have also come to acknowledge the fact that you do not have to use a voiceover or any diegetic sound to intrigue people, using narration by text is a very good way to lure people to watch it. Editing a teaser can also be very hard, this is also an important aspect as it plays it too plays a key role of contributing to appealing to an audience.