Genre-
Case 39 is a physiological thriller/horror with elements of mystery shown within the trailer. The audience this trailer is advertising to attract are 15- 18, with the age rating being 15. The trailer uses a high key lighting to show the normality of the lives shown, but also low key lighting to show that the film is a horror, and has a dark feeling and atmosphere. The plot is shown through short clips of parts of the film, and shows us the darkness and gives us an incline of what happens in the film, but not enough to spoil the experience. Like many films, the main character is an innocent looking child, when in fact as we find out towards the end, the little girl who has been adopted is the devil. The use of children being the evil characters makes the audience believe she is innocent, then the twist is shown with the innocent vulnerable character being evil. One theory that is relevant to this genre of trailer is 'Andrew Sarris's theory that "genre is the idea that it has a recognizable style that draws on an existing audience" as the trailer for case 39 attracts the existing audiences who like films which are mysterious and become a bit of a mind game, rather than a stereotypical goorey horror film.
Representation-
The representations in case 39 are quite stereotypical. The good character is a middle aged woman, who adopts this child who she thinks is being abused by her parents, and like many films she is shown to be quite vulnerable against the evil character even though she is the adult, and is scared of a child. The other representation is a child, who looks like shes going to be the good character when seeing her be put into the oven, but in fact as we see in short peaks of the trailer she is the reason for people going mad or dieing. The other representations are the minor parts of the cast, the people who we see are effected by the child's actions, who are also seen to be vulnerable against a small child. The majority of characters being the innocent victims creates tension in the trailer, but in the trailer the child looks more innocent than she is, attracting the intended audience well.
Narration-
From the case 39 trailer we see the theory of 'Todorov' because the at the beginning of the trailer we see a normal life of a social worker, then we see a huge turn of events when the child comes into her life, and small snippets of the downfall since being in association with this evil girl. The feeling of normality, then the change of mood to fear and horror is a typical way the physiological thrillers present their films in a trailer to make audiences wonder the reason for such a drastic change. The trailer consists of sneak peaks of selected scenes from the film, giving enough but not too much to spoil watching the film, however we aren't shown the plot being resolved, apart from when we see the car plunge into the see, which makes audiences wonder about the film being resolved.
Audience-
The target audience for case 39 is attracted to 15-18 year old, who enjoy horror/thriller films with the feeling of mystery, and the uncertainty of not knowing what to expect. This trailer is targeted to any gender, but with majority of the cast being female, it may attract more females. The trailer attracts the intended audience as is shows the element of mystery and suspension.
Media Language-
Cinematography-
The case 39 trailer opens with an establishing shot of new york sky scrapers, this is to possibly to show the normality of life, and the simplicity of her life before. It then straight cuts to a mid shot of Emily (adult character), and the case file of the Lilith (the child). This shows how right at the beginning of the trailer the child is important, and will be a big part of the film. The close up of Liliths school picture shows the element of innocence and sympathy we would expect to feel for a child. The shot reverse show of Emily and the house, and the poverty within the outside of the house shows a connection, and a sudden feeling of empathy with Emily facial expression. The shots of Lilith are all mid shots, and close ups, this is possibly to show that she is just a child, and not harmful. The long shots of the grave, and Liliths parents taking to the grave gives audiences the idea that she is being abused and harmed. Towards the middle of the trailer there is a montage of mid shot clips of Emily and Lilith and the fight to keep her away from her parent, showing the feeling of love and the positive atmosphere. Towards the end of the trailer there are a number of jumpy clips of bad events because of Lilith, the range of mid shots and close up help to show the emotion of fear and horror between the characters.
Editing-
The trailer uses majority of straight cut, cutting from scene to scene with black screens. When the tension speeds up and the atmosphere is building towards a climax, the straight cuts go to jump cuts, and become more regular jumping from each bad event. There are few title screens to show the studios, which are also changed the the theme of the film to show right at the beginning that this trailer is showing a horror film.
Sound-
The trailer uses non- dietetic sounds for example the background music throughout, although when the scenes speed up so does the background music, adding thuds to add suspense and tension to the trailer. Dietetic sound is used for conversation and quotes taken from the film. These conversations sound quite scary when there are intensified the music and the shot. When Lilith is at home with her parents she whispers "im scared" which is effective to build tension and suspense as is sounds quite creepy and scary.
Mise-en-scene-
The locations shown on this trailer vary, showing scenes of Liliths old house, Emily's house, and the office were she works. But there are also short scenes in other places of were something happens to someone, for example when the male character is in his own bathroom and he dies from a swarm of bees. All of the locations are relevant but the majority happenings are Emily's home and is featured the most.
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