Sorority Row Analysis

Sorority Row 
Directed by Stewart Hendler

Release Date: 9th September 2009 (UK)

Length:2.31

Genre: Sorority Row is a horror genre film, this is a popular film genre as it is widely watched by many teenagers and young adults. The target audience is obvious because the trailer shows many scenes that teenagers and young adults would be attracted to such as the scenes which have sex appeal to attract the young audience who are interested in sex. The narrative also shows who the target audience is because it has a plot that would interest teenagers and young adults as older and more sophisticated audiences would not be interested in this narrative and would think it is mediocre.

audience:  The target audience is young adults; this is reflected through the narrative and the characters of the film. The age certification is rated 15 because of the number of gruesome and violent scenes such as at when the boy stab the girl that he thought was dead. This scene includes lots of blood and horrific scenes which would be unsuitable for young children.

There are also scenes which instantly grab the attention of the audience such as at the beginning it shows fast shots of a typical day at the college which all look like fun kind of party scenes. At 0.07 seconds it shows a scene of a girl and boy looking happy with alcoholic drinks and also at 0.15 seconds there is a shot of a party scene where everyone has alcoholic drinks in their hands; this suggests that drinking alcohol is a past time makes them happy. Also the fact that it has a age certification rating of 15 will attract older audience because they will know that the film will be scary as it is it unsuitable for children under that specific age. The music used in the trailer also shows who the target audience is because it is music that people would usually associate with young people because it is pop and current kind of music.

The characters are portrayed as being 'sexy', this is shown through different mediums of mise en scene such as their costumes and make-up which includes high heels, short skirts, low cut tops and lots of make-up, this will attract both male and female teenagers and young adults because the male audience will be attracted by the sex appeal and the female audience will be attracted by the fact that the characters may be a reflection of them as they may dress in a similar way.

Institutional Identity: The institutional identity is ‘Summit Entertainment’ which is shown for second flashes on and off the screen at 0.18-0.19 seconds, this is just after the equilibrium and just before the conflict, this is very effective as it keeps the audience interested and it acts like a barrier between the end of the normal everyday life scenes and start of the horror scenes. It is a legal requirement for all film trailers to include the institutional identity logo and it is also useful to attract audiences as they will be able to associate the institutional identity to another film that they have seen made by them.

Characters: There are six main characters who are the sorority sisters; they are presented as being young and good looking female teenagers who are all interested in the same subjects such as boy and sex. Their image of being young and good-looking is shown by their costumes, e.g. they are wearing make-up high heels, short skirts, dresses and ‘sexy’ tops, and this will attract the target audience because young people are usually attracted by sex appeal and pretty women. This is the stereotypical type of female characters used in teenage horror films because it attracts the main target audience. The sex appeal is shown clearly in the trailer as one of the characters takes her top off, at 0.21 and 0.27 seconds there is a boy and girl kissing passionately on a bed and there are various shots of girls with bikinis on. This is a great selling mechanism for the film as the audience will instantly want to watch the film.

The sorority sisters are shown to be very strong and powerful women in the begging of the trailer and also as they are playing the prank of the boy but as the trailer progresses they loose this power and the atmosphere of the trailer changes dramatically, this a key feature to the trailer as the audience are suddenly attracted to the enigma. This change brings a unknown hooded character into the trailer who is the antagonist as they start killing the sorority sisters. This type of hooded and dark costume is a convention of antagonists costume in horror films as it adds mystery because you cannot see who it is, this makes the audience want to watch the film to find out.

Pace: The pace of the trailer starts off quite fast for the first 8 seconds whilst it is showing just everyday normal activities for the sorority sisters in college life. However it unfolds as the characters are introduced into the trailer, the reason the trailer started with very fast cuts was to grab the audience's attention and make them want to see more. As the horror unfolds after the inter-title 'A prank' is flashed on the scene the pace gets much faster, this is a typical convention of horror trailers because they mostly start off as normal day situations to make the narrative have a sense of mundane realism.. At 1.24 minutes the pace slows down but it soon picks up speed again at 1.38 minutes after a black transition and the trailer continues to have a fast pace until the end of the trailer. It is effective to build up pace and have a change of pace throughout the trailer as it adds enigma, it makes the audience anxious and it also keeps them wanting to know more about what will happen next.

Unique selling point:  There are three main unique selling points of this trailer. The first one is the horror genre as this attracts an age range of teenagers and young adults and this is a conventional subject of many horror films, the second is the director, Stewart Hendler who is well known for horror films therefore the audience would associate him with good horror films and the third is the institutional identity as they have also made films such as the 'Twilight' films which is also aimed at teenagers and young adults thus the same type of audience may be interested in seeing this film.

Narrative: The narrative is six sorority sisters who play a prank on a guy that they wanted to punish for cheating on one of them. They played the prank but it ended up going very wrong as the boy who the prank was being played on thought the girl was  really dead and he stabbed her when they were going to 'get rid' of the body. The fact that the narrative includes pranks shows that the characters are young, rebellious and immature therefore it will attract to the target audience as they are young adults. There is a scene of the boy stabbing the girl that he thought was dead but they were actually just playing a prank on him, this is when the trailers horror started unraveling and it became very gruesome and bloody. The other five sorority sisters try to cover up her death and ultimately have a serial killer chasing them all one by one.

Shots Types/Number of Shots: The trailer starts with close up of the six sorority sisters, this instantly establishes who the main characters are. The shot types are mainly close ups and medium shots, these are used to show key features of characters and the facial expressions, and this is important because it will help convey the message about the characters emotions to the audience but it doesn’t give the whole narrative away. A few long shots were used to set the scene and to show specific important scenes. Long shots also establish settings and it helps the audience follow the narrative as if the setting changes they will immediately know that it is a different scene. There are also many medium shots used to show the characters actions such as when they are dancing or at parties. A medium shot is used when the boy stabs the girl that he thought was dead, this was a very important scene in the trailer as it is when the real horror starts and the whole atmosphere of the trailer changes into a horror one, Hand held camera shots are used when showing the sorority sisters at the party and also as the tension is building up as they are driving in the car and the boy is scared, this is a typical convention in horror films as it gives a sense of mundane realism to the trailer. Another convention in horror films is an extreme close up of a characters eye which is used in this trailer as one of the sorority sisters gets killed.

Sound/Dialogue/Voiceover: The first dialogue in the trailer is “I hope as you girls prepare to go out in the real world, the things you have learnt at Theta PI will help you do the right thing” this dialogue is said by a teacher and is a hint to the audience that the sorority sisters will do the opposite of what the teacher says which is a sign of them being rebellious, this is very common in teenage horror films and will draw the audience in as they will want to see if the girls listened to the teacher or not. At 0.24 seconds one of the sorority sisters says "You cheat on one Theta you cheat on every Theta' and another says 'That boy needs to be taught a lesson", this shows that they are all the same and all stick together. The dialogue is mostly of conversations which have keywords such as kill, prank, dead, cheat and Theta Pi in them, these are specific words that are associated with this specific film but some of the words are also very conventional for American teenage horror films. When the horror unravels one of the sisters says "there's no way out of this", in a panicking way and another replies with "maybe there is" in a confident way, this shows that she is the leader of the group and they will follow what she says. 
The sound used is music which has a fast beat, the music is pop genre and is the type of music associated with teenagers, this clarifies who the main target audience is and will attract them to want to watch the film.  At 0.28 seconds the music changes dramatically to a type of comedy style music and the girls are laughing which shows that the girls are slightly immature and it establishes that they are playing a prank. At 0.40 seconds the music changes even further with a  song that says "they did a bad, bad thing" in a deep masculine voice which creates tension. Then at 0.56-1.00 there is no more music but instead dialogue of one of the sisters but suddenly at 1.01 minutes there is a scream when the boy stabs the girl he thought was dead, the scream is a common convention in horror trailers because it shows fear or that someone is being hurt/tortured or killed. At this point the music changes to scary and mysterious typical horror style music which establishes that the horror has really started. At the inter-titles from this point there is a drum like sound which is very powerful and sets the tense atmosphere. At 1.20 minutes there is a faint beeping sound which transitions into a crowd cheering and a speech made by one of the Theta girls about the girl that died and then her phone starts beeping which makes everyone silent and creates tension in the trailer. 
At the end of the trailer there is chanting of the Theta Pi sorority song, this is chanted in a scary childish like way which is a convention of horror films to use children chanting because it is very spooky. Then suddenly there is a transition to the girls screaming which adds a sense of mayhem to the trailer, as the shots get faster the music gets more frightening such as the drum beats this ultimately adds tension. The music and sounds gets  tenser throughout the trailer to build suspense for the audience making them wonder what will happen next, this is also a convention of horror movies as it adds suspense and keeps the audience wanting more. 

Credits/Inter-titles: The inter-titles are in a white typeface on a black background which makes it stand out, the inter-titles are in a simple font in the beginning but they get more graphic as the trailer progresses for example some have a white glow with a blue tint in them and in the ‘O’ there is a line through it which is the logo of the girls sorority but it also suggests ‘no entry’ and there is a slight degraded affect which is typical in horror trailers because the degraded font suggests everything is falling apart.

‘A prank… no one would ever forget… a secret… no one would ever tell… sisters for life… and death’, these key phrases have been used to give the audience information and a basic view of the narrative. Inter-titles are used in most film trailers to help the audience understand more as they may be confused by just watching.

Transitions/Editing/Special effects: The transitions are mostly fast shots from the beginning until the end, this is to create excitement and they get faster towards the end to keep the audience interested. Some of the shots are edited by having a whiter flash at the end of the shot; this is usually after the main shots such as after the girl and boy kissing, after the killing and after the graduation. These are scenes that group the plot together therefore they are key scenes that help clarify the narrative.
There are a few special effects in this trailer such as explosions and also a ‘T’ being thrown towards the camera and whilst the girl is getting killed there is a black and white effect on her while she is screaming. These special effects create scary scenes and audience may be frightened by this. Special effects are a common convention used in horror films because they add excitement and can sometimes be used to show supernatural things which are usually found in horror films.

Mise En Scene: The mise en scene used in the beginning of the trailer shows typical everyday mise en scene, for instance the settings are a normal school and party scene and the lighting in the beginning is just average day lighting but as the trailer progresses and the horror unravels the lighting becomes darker which ultimately creates tension. This is a convention in horror film trailers because it is more effective to have the horror progressing rather than showing it straight away because it won't keep the audience wanting more.
The costume and make-up the characters are wearing in the beginning of the trailer are typical teenage clothing and make-up however the sorority sisters are portrayed as being 'sexy' which is shown through their costume such as skirts, tight tops and high heels, this appeals to the target audience of teenagers and young adults. This will be the type of costume and make-up we will be using in our horror trailer therefore we have used some ideas from Sorority Row such as wearing really high heels and red lipstick.
The props used are the object the boy uses to kill the girl, this is a key prop because the point when it is used is when the real horror starts which is a changing point in the narrative.The setting and spacing is usual everyday setting in the beginning until the point where the girls are playing the prank on the boy and they all go to a deserted, dark and scary looking place and he kills her, this setting is very conventional of horror films as it looks very eerie. At 0.57 seconds there is a scene of all the characters going to find things to get rid of the body with but at this point they were still playing the prank. The setting is all dark and black with a red glow in the corner which are conventional colours of horror films as they are associated with death and danger. All of the characters are spaced out at this point which is also a convention of scenes in horror films because if all the characters are separated it gives them more chance of something happening to them rather than when they are all united.