The Forest
leightonshoemake123The Forest
Lighting and Trailer Analysis
The lighting in the first scene is low key, as it takes place in the evening in a family home, suggesting comfort and presenting the idea that nothing bad will happen in this scene.
The colour scheme is warm, as there is a lot of orange radiating from the lamps in the room. Warm colours make the audience feel safe and it further gives the impression that this location is secure. The colour orange is represented to be optimistic and happy, as it combines the energy of red and the cheerfulness of yellow.
The low key lighting continues onto the next scene, which takes place in the basement of the house. This low key lighting presents a more mysterious tone, rather than a calm, casual tone as seen in the previous shot, because it is generally darker.
However, the colour scheme has changed, as it has transitioned from a warm orange to a cold blue, which could suggest that this location is not safe, as blue is commonly associated with lack of emotion and unfriendliness, further supporting the idea that danger is close. In the middle of the shot, we can see a bright yellow tent with the silhouette of a little girl in it. Yellow suggests happiness and optimism, which contrasts the rest of the scene and the plot and genre of the film itself, as horror films aren't happy or optimistic. Therefore, this scene does not fit with the conventions of a horror film, or at least the colour scheme of most horror films.
In the next scene, the low-key lighting continues to show that it takes place at night.
The colour scheme is blue, which again, shows the protagonist's fear as she is woken up by an unknown force.
Both of these features are conventional of horror films, as the protagonist is often stalked by the antagonist and the low key lighting and cold colour scheme presents the character's fear.
In the first outdoor shot of the trailer, we are shown an establishing shot of a forest. Obviously, there is a lot of green in this shot, which represents stability. this contrasts the action in the rest of the trailer and the genre itself, making it an unconventional shot to use.
Now, we are shown a completely different setting, this time in a built up urban area. Here, the lighting is low-key again, showing that it takes place at night, however the colour scheme is much more vibrant, as we can see blue, yellow, red, grey, black, etc. This shows that this setting is civilised, and so, in theory, safe. This fits with Clover's Terrible Place theory, which suggests that in horror films, bad things happen in bad places.
In this scene, high key lighting is used to show that it takes place outside in the day. It creates a positive atmosphere which makes the audience feel safe and think that nothing bad is going to happen, which we know is unlikely.
The colour scheme is more vibrant because it is outside and the lighting is high-key. The dominant colours are blue, green and the protagonist's blonde hair. Blue in this sense means loyalty and wisdom, green represents protection and safety, and blonde/yellow represents joy and intellect.
The lighting is high-key, which again, suggests that nothing bad will happen in this scene.
The colour scheme is vibrant, similar to the last scene, in which the protagonist wears the same colour blue jacket, suggesting wisdom. The scene is set in a cabin, so the background is mostly a basic brown. Brown represents security and stability, which again, supports the idea that nothing will happen in this scene.
The lighting in this scene is low-key. This has been used to suggest a calmer mood, as the scene takes place in a restaurant instead of a house or forest.
The primary colour in the shot is red, which has connotations of love and romance, therefore suggesting that this male supporting character is the typical love interest of the female protagonist. This could fit with Propp's theory, which states that there are typical roles in horror films, with the male character in this scene fulfilling the role of the donor, or the dispatcher.
In this scene, the lighting is high-key, which suggests safety, although the fact that it takes place in the forest suggests otherwise.
There are three main colours in this shot; green, yellow and purple. As stated previously, the green represents safety and security, the yellow represents joy, although this contrasts the on-screen action, as the characters are more dismayed than happy. Finally, purple represents royalty and wealth. This may have been used in the scene to reinforce who the main character is, as she is not presented to be particularly wealthy.
The colour scheme in the rest of the trailer is the same as the colour in the scenes I have analysed.
The title screen in mostly grey, which adds to the creepy atmosphere and general tone of the film. The titles are unconventional, because they don't stand out as much, however it still gets the audience's attention, because it is the only text on the screen.
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