Dreamlike editing

Many psychological thrillers have a quite dream-like feel to them, this is often portrayed through the editing and the choice of music, this is easily seen in the trailers of these films.

Stoker

The dreamlike qualities are shown throughout the trailer but they start in the opening scene with there being a blur around the edge of the shots and the use of soft colours which conveys the idea of nostalgia. The voice over at the beginning is also quite chilling as Nicole Kidmans' voice is very soft and it therefore sounds like she is close to the audience. This is quickly contrasted with the harsh words that she says to her daughter which contradicts the earlier idea of nostalgia. The sudden change of pace creates a quite aggressive tone and conveys the psychological element of the film and it could also be seen as to be quite nightmare-ish. The monotonous tone of the metronome conveys the idea of a differentiation between the surreal and reality. The continuos movement of the camera also creates a dream like atmosphere this is also enhanced by the slow motion shot in the shower which is quite surreal. The choice of colour also is quite dream like as it is very soft and there are not any bright colours. The continuous use of extreme close ups is quite surreal and disorientating.

Side effects



Like stoker the choice of colours in Side Effects are very light and neutral which creates a very calm tone. Some of the shots also utilise the depth of field by focusing on the characters whilst leaving the background behind them quite blurry which is quite dream like. The cross fades between each shot also give the trailer a very fluid and surreal tone added to by the non-diegetic piano music. The blurryness and the sudden change in pace in the trailer portray a disorientation from reality. The fast pase of the edits also build tension as the the non-diegetic sound is building, which is quite effective.The constant close up shots also create a distorted view of the narrative of the film. The tone of the trailer changes quite quickly from dreamlike to quite frantic through the building of the non-diegetic singing and the pace of the shots, this is quite effective as it hooks the audience into the narrative.