Snow White and the Huntsman trailer

1) What techniques does the extract use to establish the texts genre and/or engage the audience.

Snow White and Huntsman trailer takes the fairytale children’s tale of Snow white and the seven dwarfs - minus the Dwarves. The narrative equilibrium theory by Todorov takes the audience through the children’s tale. However, this is taken from the villain (queens) perspective. This could connote that unlike the children’s tale they want to darken the story and convey the violence of the villain that eventually dies.

The first close-up shot consists of a CGI set of black eagles looking with direct mode of address. This could connote that the institutions are approaching a fantasy genre, as everything about the trailer looks ethereal and mystical. The voiceover is also taken from the snow Queen within the trailer. Stereotypically, we don’t see a voiceover from the villains perspective. An example of this is: “It once pained me to know that I was the cause of this despair, but now their cries gives me strength”. Using this connotes, whilst telling the target audience that this is the villain and how she became evil.  The queen isn’t looking with any mode of address towards the equilibrium, which allows the audience to voyeur upon her. The top lighting used on her towards the beginning on the trailer conveys her beauty, whilst she’s dressed in gold clothes which connotes her wealth. The audience will view her as rather beautiful and seductive at this point. However, after a few close up shots of her looking away from the camera, her hand seems to be clutched around another poor women’s throat single handedly. This not only connotes her strength but also connotes that she has more masculine dominating characteristics. In this example, the audience views a point of view shot taken from the queens perspective. This makes the close up image of the poor women feel not only more tragic but also as if we are in power which is what she wants us to feel when she says: “Their cries gave my strength”. The medium shot of this conveys both uses the top lighting which connotes binary opposition (strausses theory).The queens face beautiful and glamorous, whereas the poor women looks older and less pampered. The dim light sets the scene, making us think something bad is going to happen but the lighter side is focused on the old women’s side which could also link to Strausses theory. Good. vs. evil. 

Another example of this is the next shot where the queen seems to be on top of a man in her bed. She’s smiling and dressed in a white nighty. The white connotes innocence as she seductively looks at the man. The fact we can’t see the man makes it seem more terrifying as we don’t know who she’s about to kill, whilst also connoting that she’s using her sex to control him after she takes a dagger at the back of her and stabs him. Top lighting is also used here to make her look more beautiful. This also links to how she says: “My beauty is my power” when she seems to be drowning in white. This also connotes binary opposition in the fact that white is an innocent colour, yet she is evil and drowning in it. 

Action is then conveyed in the form of the soldier battles. There’s an example when the queen cackles and laughs. The slow motioned medium to long shot, conveys soldiers running away from something lurking in the ground. This could connote that soldiers are normally the ones going to battle but the fact that their running away connotes that not even those dominant males are in control. This also emphasises that she’s in control of everything and that the institution is trying to convey that the films genre could be an adventure film. The non-diegetic sound of her laughing also connotes that she has no remorse and is evil. Action is also conveyed in the form of the hunts man. The slow motion of the dark haired hench huntsman conveys a medium shot of him swivelling his axe over the trees. This not only conveys he’s a dominant male but by the lack of direct mode of address allows the female gaze to voyeur upon him and also links to Blumler and Katz theory of uses and gratifications as male audience will self-identify themselves to him and aspire to be him because of his body and masculine qualities. Stereotypically, the huntsman would have been considered as “a real man”, further conveying the sense of  the labelling theory.  However, this can be contrasted as he suspiciously asks the queen if he refused to hunt for Snow White and she replies by the guards arrows and weapons all turning on him. This connotes that although the huntsman is conveyed to be a dominating character (being part of a patriarchal society), that this is no match for the queen and that their all part of a matriarchal society. Within the traditional tale, the huntsman is conveyed of not being able to kill innocent snow white. Yet from the trailer, the target audience can’t figure whether he wants to protect her or not. We get a glimpse of a medium shot of a man on a horse about to kiss Snow white from her sleep. This could hint that this is the charming prince, whilst also relating to another traditional tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Snow white is not depicted within the trailer till the disruption. She’s shown in natural light whereas the queen is only shown in lighting within her home. This could connote that Snow whites persona is a naturally beautiful one. Whereas, the queen is superficial and wealthy connoting the higher end of the socio economic model. Nature conveys a symbol connoting innocence and the way she moves around gracefully through the forest with no direct mode of address allows the male gaze to be able to voyeur upon her. Her innocence is also conveyed as we always see a tracking shot of her running, her head turning slightly behind her. Generally, within the trailer she has high key lighting around her connoting the beauty but when she’s running, the lighting turns dramatically to low-key lighting. This then not only connotes she’s in danger but conveys her vulnerability, especially when she’s trying to pull herself up on a rock out of the water. Her persona throughout the trailer links to Vladimir Propps theory of her being a typical Archetype “damsel in distress”. 

Throughout the trailer, snow white is never represented as having direct mode of address which connotes her fragility and vulnerability, whereas the queen seems to look in direct mode of address towards the disruption which could connote that she’s watching snow white. Especially, right at the end of the trailer when she says the fairytale rhyme : “lips as red as blood. Hair, as black as night. Bring me your heart snow white”. The end image shows a close-up image of her looking in direct mode of address, her face half hidden into a black cape. This then connotes mystery whilst also connoting darkness. Whilst the non-diegetic music starts if as parallel sound and then gets higher and deeper towards the disruption, ending on a high tone. 

The use of action, violence and low -key lighted exotic locations within the mountains hints to the  target audience that this could be a adventure, fantasy genre but that it isn’t a young children’s film like the books.