Dead Snow is a Norwegian comedy horror made in 2009 directed and written by Tommy Wirkola. The film is based on nazi zombies back from the dead and are out to eat a group of medical students on vacation. For this teaser trailer I have used the official ‘Dead Snow’ teaser trailer that is 48 seconds long, I watched the teaser trailer on http://www.imdb.com/ and on http://www.youtube.com/. Dead snow fits into the sub-genre of a splatter horror movie.
The teaser trailer begins with an establishing shot of the area, we see the two car driving up to the mountains with the vacationers inside. We see that the surrounding is full of snow and mountains, this relates to the title being ‘Dead Snow’. The lightening in the first scene is very high key, very light you can see that it is clearly daytime, and the mood is very calm and peaceful. This isn’t usually how a typical horror trailer starts. There are continuous cuts between the two cars so we can see all the actors and actresses. The cameras angle looks to be position of the from window mirror of the car allowing the audience to see everyone inside. One of the male characters makes a statement ‘ How many movies start with a group of friends on a trip to a cabin, with no cell phone signal’ this shows the comedy side because this statement is said as a classic joke, it also shows that everything might not be as it seems. Most of the time in any horror movie when there is no cell phone signal something bad is bound to happen. It starts off very slow paced and calm.
There is then a cut to the second scene. This is completely different to the first scene, the lighting is low key. The dramatic change in lighting makes the audience feel something bad is going to happen or be revealed. We see a man who is not part of the vacationers sitting on the chair. For some reason you feel un easy as he begins to talk. The camera is set at a point of view shot, this makes the audience feel like he is telling the story to you. Also the way he chuckles at the beginnings and the camera does a reaction shot to the vacationers faces and they look worried and uneasy adds to the uneasy feel of the environment.
There is then a cut to black then a cut to a eye looking in through a crack, at this scene the lightening is very low key, close to black and it makes the audience feel that something bad is going to happen. The camera cuts to a very close up sho t where you an see the reaction of the women who see the eye, you see the fear on her face.
There is then a fast cut to the living room where she comes in and tells the tell vacationers that ‘theres somebody out there’, you can she that she is very clearly distressed but the scene cuts again not allowing you to see fully the reaction of the vacationers. I feel that the directors may have don’t this to leave the audience hanging, not revealing too much straight away. Also there is low key lighting here which lets the audience know that it is night time.
There is then two more cuts of three people faces, one of which is a women who has a lot of cuts on here face and is breathing very heavily, when she breathes you see cold air coming from her mouth this adds to the affect that they are in a cold place. Also the way the vacationers are dressed in thick coats, snow goggles and hats all relate to the environment of snow. For the three cuts the shot gets closer on everyone’s face it shows this also helps to create a frightening atmosphere, it feels like its building up to something. Also in the three cuts to see the lighting get darker and darker this also makes the trailer feel like it is getting scarier.
There is then another cut to the old man in the cabin continuing telling a story in the cabin. There is a very low key atmosphere. The old man telling the story does not make no eye contact with the audience which makes you feel very uneasy, it brings a sense of mysteriousness to the scene and very dark. He begins to say ‘ believe me when I say this’ then you see a flash of the zombies, this helps the audience know hes talking the zombies, he continues to say ‘ they are evil fiendish devils’ you hear the zombies deep breathing as he says this. The is not very much talking in this trailer but the few words that are used do send shiffers down your spin. I feel not too much is given away its left for the audience to put together.
A fast cut to a scene from outside of the window. The shot starts very wide then crossing into a close up of a face. You see the vacationers looking out from the window. You can see the surroundings is snow at night very dark and very cold. There are two figures moving towards the window. The way the figures are moving make then look inhuman like. Then there is a close up to one of the figures face and you can see it is very inhuman. The zombie breaths out this breathe of white air shows that the surrounding is as cold as it looks. The mouth of the zombie is very dismantled with dried blood, the mouth looks like the skin has been eaten away at. The eyes of are very far back in the head. When the audience sees the close up of the zombies face that’s when you realise it’s a horror and that’s everything is not as it seems. The attire of the zombies relates to the nazi theme, you can see that they are in military dress code. You can also hear the deep breathing of the zombies which is a very inhuman sound, it’s sort of like a snarl or animal like sounds.
The next few scenes are very fast cutting and flashing violent scenes, this shows the action in the film. One scene in particular is a man in a cave presumably one of the vacationers, he holds the fire stick up and you see the nazi flag, the man then says ‘ what the fuck’, this reveals a bit more of the killers in the film and what they are about. You can see the horror and confusion in mans face. The surroundings are like in a cave so you can see that’s its very secluded not published to the world. the position of the flag is on the ceiling so you see the man looking up to the flag which gives a sensation that the zombies are in control.
In more of the quicker scenes you see show down between the zombies and the vacationers in the snow setting. In the last scenes you also hear a lot of screaming and high-tension music. There are very fast camera movements and fast pacing which makes the audience feel a part of the actions a part of the chase. The fast pacing builds more tension than the slower pacing in the beginnings scenes.
The end scene is ‘Dead Snow’ the screen, it has got a blurred red blood background that gives the effect that blood has been splattered on the screen.
I feel that this trailer tells you everything you need to know in the film, it does not tell you specific details but towards the end you can sum up what is gong to happen, without watching the film you already know that there are nazi zombies out to kill a bunch of vacationers. If the audience felt they wanted to know more there was a website for the film http://www.deadsnow.com/ where you can find out more information and see behind the scenes. The screen shot below is from the dead snow website, the website has a runing trailer of the film on the font page.
The picture below is some of the pictures you can see on the website.
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