Chernobyl Diaries Teaser Trailer Analysis

Chernobyl Diaries is an American horror film which is based on the true story of the disaster that happened in Chernobyl. Chernobyl Diaries was co-produced and directed by Bradley Parker and Oren Peli, who has also directed many other well known horror films. The teaser trailer that I will be analysing for Chernobyl Diaries lasts for 59 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tGyn9AeKOc


Chernobyl Diaries teaser trailer starts off with the film institutions which have contributed in producing the film. Warner Brothers pictures and Alcon entertainment are the film institutions for Chernobyl Diaries. Showing the film institutions at the beginning of a trailer is effective to the audience as they will know the film has been produced by a well known film institution which has already produced award winning films. This will attract an audience as they will most likely will know that the film will be as good as others that the film institutions have already produced.

As the film is based on a true event, this will attract an audience as they know what they will be watching has some truth to it which gives the film more tension and a sense of danger.

After the film institutions have been displayed, background information from the narrative of the film is given (there was an explosion). This engages an audience as some information is given so the audience will want to find out what happens next. This teaser trailer follows Todorov's theory of a disruption disturbing the equilibrium. It also follows Barthe's Enigma theory as the audience is displayed with a puzzle 'What happened after the explosion?' this attracts an audience as they will want to know the answer to that question and will therefore want to watch the film.

From the start of the trailer and to about 25 seconds in to it, a non-diegetic ambient sound of a warning siren is heard. This catches the audiences attention as the warning sign is well known to everybody and means danger and evacuation. This makes the genre of the film noticeable to the audience. The warning siren also adds to the narrative of the film as the audience will know that there was some sort of evacuation. It also adds tension to the teaser trailer as a feeling of panic goes through you when you hear the siren.

This birds eye view shot establishes the setting of the film. This shot shows the audience that the film took place in some form of large work place. This reveals to the audience that a lot of people were involved in the nuclear explosion and that there were numerous fatalities.

This is another over the shoulder establishing shot which takes place shortly after the first establishing shot. This shot reveals more to the audience the location of the film and a hint to the narrative.

Dialogue from one of the characters also drops a hint to the narrative of the film. The character says; 'this place was abandoned over night, they had no time to take anything.' This dialogue gets the audience asking questions like; 'why was it abandoned over night?' This also follows Barthe's Enigma theory as the audience want to find out more. 

Text is then displayed on the screen shortly after the establishing shots. The text reveals that the creator of this film, has also produced another big hit film. This suggests to the audience that Chernobyl Diaries will also be another big hit film and will want to watch it.

This shot shows a man at the bottom of the stairs behind the woman. This is dramatic irony as the woman doesn't know the man is there but the audience does. Dramatic irony is very effective as it gets the audience feeling tense as they are scared for the woman. It also gets them asking more questions like 'What's going to happen to the woman?' When creating my teaser trailer, I will try and include dramatic irony as it is a very effective of engaging an audience.

Throughout the whole teaser trailer, the colouring is very drained. This reveals that the film has a dark side to it and will attract an audience that are interested in dark scary films.