Research: Orphan

The Orphan is a 2009 psychological thriller and directed by Jaume Collecy-Serra. It was produced by Joel Sliver and Susan Downey of Dark Castle Entertainment and Leonardo DiCaprio of Appian Way Productions. It grossed a total $78,337,373 at the box office.

Trailer

The studio logo for Dark Castle Entertainment is dark and grim. This immediately tells the audience that they intend to make dark and thriller films. The logo does not give a sense of light and this make suggest less romantic, comedy or happy films that they produce.



                                            

The studio logo for Dark Castle Entertainment is dark and grim. This immediately tells the audience that they intend to make dark and thriller films. The logo does not give a sense of light and this make suggest less romantic, comedy or happy films that they produce.

Within the first seconds of the trailer you it can clearly be seen that the film is set in America with the style of housing. It is snowing and there are a number of people outside the house with a black car also coming to the house. This immediately tells the audience that it is a key area in the film which is visible in the trailer in the next few shots. The snow shows connotations of cold and isolated which connects to the girl later in the film.  

There is a lot of emphasise when the girl says ‘I’m very different’ and the woman says it’s okay to be different. This reveals to the audience that some how this girl is different and don’t sympathise as much with her as she is an orphan. Even the hearing of the word Orphan means a person feels sorry for the child but in this case this is not felt.

The clothing which the young girl wears connotes old fashioned which clearly shows that the young girl does not fit into the scenery which is a modern set.  When the girl first joins the school at another child remarks about her the look at the audience perceive is more of an evil and revengeful rather than a sad and upset face. This links into the fact that the girl is very different and is not scared of anyone.

Later in the film when the girl starts to scream in the toilet it seems as if she is child who screams when they don’t get what they want rather than a cry for help. This is contracted with the other scenes of the fostering parents talking about how something is wrong and different from others in Esther. This may be why Esther is screaming in the toilet because the foster parents have found something out in which she did not want.

The sound within the film is very much quiet in the start of the trailer where as towards the end the screams become louder and louder.  This show the use of a traditional family adopting a child but now that family is falling apart. The pace of the trailer becomes faster and faster as the trailer goes on and at the end the use a scream of Esther to a man ends the trailer. This makes the audience want to watch the film to find out what happens to the man. Through the trailer the bit about the reason Esther is like she is draws the audience even more as it shows why she is like she is but does not reveal it all within the trailer. There is very little lighting in the film and this suggests a dark and gloomy film.

A very good editing feature is towards the end when a fire is alight and Esther is watching. The young boy starts the scream and the sky is wiped to black which connotes evil and bad.

The titles in the trailer are emphasised and very clear to the audience with the use of the black font against the white background. This contradicts the use of snow through the trailer used. The titles at first look like a normal formatted black font but then a shadow begins to drop down behind it suggesting that Esther is always behind you.

Poster

This is the poster for the film Orphan. The poster somehow does not relate as much to the trailer as the image of the girl is more like a painted image. The girl in the image also has a longer hair and the clothing she is wearing is not evident in the trailer. This does not allow a link for the audience to identify the poster to the trailer or film. The font is also different with it being in white. With the trailer being seen y9ou would expect a black font against a white background to form consistence through the trailer and poster.

For the trailer we will produce I have found that the font and image of a poster and magazine needs to link with the trailer otherwise it can look like 2 completely different films. The conventions of this film such as the use of a number and faster pace of a scream can be used for our trailer in order to build tension. The use of titles in the trailer is also very important so that the audience can make sense of what’s happening in the film.