Saw I Directed by James Wan
Analysis of Saw I, focusing on characters
This trailer begins with a face talking on a television, it is wearing a mask and you cannot see who this character the film is already mysterious, this shot lasts about 2 seconds. Then there is a series of images of old documents, straight away along with this the non-diegetic music is fast, in keeping with the editing of the shots of documents. The music then slows along with the editing to reveal a newspaper article, which accusing some one of being a killer, this word is said by the voice over. After this there is a title page with the phrase "It's his game", this gives us slightly more information that the person is a man, we still know very little about this character. This is where the green aspect starts, with the smoke. There is now a black and white shot, it looks like it shot down a gun barrel with aim, this indicates something morbid is going to happen, that this is aimed at somone in particular, it was planned making it even scarier, putting the viewer in suspense.
There are many characters in this trailer, not many of them appears twice indicating that they don't last long in the situation they are in. The thing common to this is the evil person, you never really see their face, they remain mysterious with their face in the dar. The victims and the villain can be easily distinguished, the first victim we see it dressed as if he was smart, but he is all dirty which doesn't match with how he is dressed at all suggesting it is not his choice. Although this shot is very short you can see that he is chained up indicating him to be the victim. Next is a shot of a person dressed all in black in a green haze, this is where the use of the colour green starts to be used, eventhough we cannot be certain this is the villain it is quite evident due to the shot of the victim and villain being put together you can see the contrast between the two, this makes the first person (victim) seem more open compared the the second person (villain) who's hood covers their whole face as not to be revealed. This contrast is further secured by another shot of a vicitim who is dressed similarly to the first victim wearing the same kind of expression, it then cuts back to the first victim, this makes out they are together in the same situation linking them. "And it's your move" indicates that the victims have been put in the situation, its their turn, the villain has put them there and its up to them to get out of it. It is vague but still you can understand what it implying.
Next a shot of flickering lights fades in, and then negative and proper colour shots of a saw is shown from different angles and perspectives. These shots are illusive and mysterious making the viewer wonder what is going to happen involving the saw. The lights just add to the effect of this. The repetition of the words "And it's your move" emphasises the situation further. The face in mask flashes up on the screen once again, it's expression is happier this time, emotion cannot usually be seen in a mask but in this case it is evident. The characters begin to appear again now, the first one is a birds eye view of the victim, it is shot through a net, this makes to victim look more vulnerable. It starts out black and white then a green tinge seeps in, this shot is rather slow compared to the following shots. The next short series of shots are very fast, shaky, evasive of what is going on leaving the viewer intrigued. It then slows to show a close up of a woman in some kind of device which she is clearly not comfortable with, you can tell by the code of expression.
The pace then picks up once more and the next shot is a extreme close up of this same lady trying to get the device off her head. There is then pans, lots of fast pans making it hard for the location to be properly seen. The green colour now disappears as it cuts back to the victim, he is participating in a struggle and the colours are blues and greys which mean bravery, he is attempting to defeat the villain. A new character is now shown, he is reaching out for help, in more ways than one, his arm is extended and the code of emotion shows his eyes are pleading, this shot features the green colour again. The next character which is shown has the features of the typical victim unlike the previous characters which are male. This one is a blonde female, her looks make her look vulnerable, along with the code of emotion her face is angled downwards as if she was crying, she is clinging onto something like she can't support herself and she needs help.
The series of shots have a different sort of theme, with most of the shots before featuring despair, panic, haste, vicitmisation and confusion. The next two shots appear to be of some kind of escape attempt, like there is some kind of hope to the situation, this intrigues the viewer further because there wouldn't be much of a story line if it was someone just torturing people, but if the people try to escape it brings something new to the film. This attempt is made interesting further by the trap door being slammed down, indicating there is nowhere to escape to.
The editing picks up pace again and the shots flash from normal colour to negative colours even though the images in this series of shots cannot really be distinguished there is something about the patterns and shapes which is disturbing. At the end of this series of shots there one of the victims hits out, after this the camera goes black, this insinuates that the victims/villain control is now equal with the victims becoming more powerful. The copy now comes up this time it is the name of the film "SAW" this is where the trailer ends.
Every shot in the first part of the trailer fades out to black before the next one fades in, sometimes with long blank gaps this gives to viewer time to think about what could happen next and think about what has happened.
There are many characters in this trailer, not many of them appears twice indicating that they don't last long in the situation they are in. The thing common to this is the evil person, you never really see their face, they remain mysterious with their face in the dar. The victims and the villain can be easily distinguished, the first victim we see it dressed as if he was smart, but he is all dirty which doesn't match with how he is dressed at all suggesting it is not his choice. Although this shot is very short you can see that he is chained up indicating him to be the victim. Next is a shot of a person dressed all in black in a green haze, this is where the use of the colour green starts to be used, eventhough we cannot be certain this is the villain it is quite evident due to the shot of the victim and villain being put together you can see the contrast between the two, this makes the first person (victim) seem more open compared the the second person (villain) who's hood covers their whole face as not to be revealed. This contrast is further secured by another shot of a vicitim who is dressed similarly to the first victim wearing the same kind of expression, it then cuts back to the first victim, this makes out they are together in the same situation linking them. "And it's your move" indicates that the victims have been put in the situation, its their turn, the villain has put them there and its up to them to get out of it. It is vague but still you can understand what it implying.
Next a shot of flickering lights fades in, and then negative and proper colour shots of a saw is shown from different angles and perspectives. These shots are illusive and mysterious making the viewer wonder what is going to happen involving the saw. The lights just add to the effect of this. The repetition of the words "And it's your move" emphasises the situation further. The face in mask flashes up on the screen once again, it's expression is happier this time, emotion cannot usually be seen in a mask but in this case it is evident. The characters begin to appear again now, the first one is a birds eye view of the victim, it is shot through a net, this makes to victim look more vulnerable. It starts out black and white then a green tinge seeps in, this shot is rather slow compared to the following shots. The next short series of shots are very fast, shaky, evasive of what is going on leaving the viewer intrigued. It then slows to show a close up of a woman in some kind of device which she is clearly not comfortable with, you can tell by the code of expression.
The pace then picks up once more and the next shot is a extreme close up of this same lady trying to get the device off her head. There is then pans, lots of fast pans making it hard for the location to be properly seen. The green colour now disappears as it cuts back to the victim, he is participating in a struggle and the colours are blues and greys which mean bravery, he is attempting to defeat the villain. A new character is now shown, he is reaching out for help, in more ways than one, his arm is extended and the code of emotion shows his eyes are pleading, this shot features the green colour again. The next character which is shown has the features of the typical victim unlike the previous characters which are male. This one is a blonde female, her looks make her look vulnerable, along with the code of emotion her face is angled downwards as if she was crying, she is clinging onto something like she can't support herself and she needs help.
The series of shots have a different sort of theme, with most of the shots before featuring despair, panic, haste, vicitmisation and confusion. The next two shots appear to be of some kind of escape attempt, like there is some kind of hope to the situation, this intrigues the viewer further because there wouldn't be much of a story line if it was someone just torturing people, but if the people try to escape it brings something new to the film. This attempt is made interesting further by the trap door being slammed down, indicating there is nowhere to escape to.
The editing picks up pace again and the shots flash from normal colour to negative colours even though the images in this series of shots cannot really be distinguished there is something about the patterns and shapes which is disturbing. At the end of this series of shots there one of the victims hits out, after this the camera goes black, this insinuates that the victims/villain control is now equal with the victims becoming more powerful. The copy now comes up this time it is the name of the film "SAW" this is where the trailer ends.
Every shot in the first part of the trailer fades out to black before the next one fades in, sometimes with long blank gaps this gives to viewer time to think about what could happen next and think about what has happened.
Here I have copied all of the shots which involve an element of chiaroscuro which adds to the effect really well.
Also in the Saw trailer the colour green is used alot, because of its meaning..."Bad green
Green-eyed monster - jealosy
Green with envy - jealous or envious
Green - inexperienced, untested, untrained
Greenhorn - novice, trainee, beginner
Green around the gills - pale, sickly"
Green can also mean nature or good things, but the tone of this trailer has already been set in the first parts so that you know which meaning the green is.
