The Ring Trailer Analysis

The trailer itself is a montage of clips which keeps the audience in suspense through the use of tense music, fast pace cuts and flashes of lighting, which could be seen to slightly disorientate its audience. The ring is a trailer which gives brief outline of the story, in order to give the audience an indication of what the film will present. I feel that this particular trailer reveals too much of its plot in the trailer, since we are made aware of many of the activities that occur in the film before even seeing it. This is not the case for all horror trailers, however, since some uses a fast, jumbled montages of flashing clips, in order to confuse the audience, and leave them wanting to know more.

At the end of the trailer, the name of the film is displayed. This is the case within many movies, not just those of a horror genre, since it is often the last thing the audience will see, which means there is more chance of them remembering the title. It would not be effective to show the name at the beginning, since there is a huge distraction of the montage of clips, and in some cases the title does not fully correspond to the film itself. This is not the case for the ring, since the trailer constantly repeats the title and the phrase ‘when you see the ring you die’, which emphasises this.

 

Unlike films such as 1408, who mention the actors starring in the production, The Ring makes no attempt to do this. Since there are no ‘well known’ actors within this film, it would be a waste to do this, and it may take up valuable time on the trailer. Without mentioning actors on the trailer, we are not reminded that this is a film, so the fear remains intense to make the audience feel like part of the story. Along with not taking up valuable time on the trailer, without mentioning the names of those starring in it, we are only able to relate them to The Ring, which means the audience are not distracted from the plot itself.

It is vital to use a combination of both distorted images and sounds, in order for a horror trailer to successful scare its audience, this is something I feel that this trailer successfully achieves. To begin the trailer, there is a mellow tone of simple church bells, to set the initial suspense. As the pace of the clips increases, so does the music. In addition to the church bells, the trailer includes distorted noises, low keys sounds and a build of drums, all of which successfully allows the audience to relate to this as a horror trailer. To add the sounds, there is a slight voice over which repeats ‘when you see the ring you die’. This relates the audience back to the title, and therefore reinforces the film itself.

The title itself could be seen as very effective within the horror genre itself, since a ring can been seen as never ending, therefore this could represent never ending pain or suffering. In addition to this, the trailer says ‘when you see the ring you die’, and at the end of the trailer it displays the ring itself. This allows the audience to feel involved within the film itself, and could lead them to doubt reality itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt6JCKDFZf0
The Ring Trailer