Buried: Synopsis, analysis and summary

Synopsis: Civilian truck driver, Paul Conroy wakes up to find himself buried alive in a coffin. He only has his phone which he uses to make calls to his family, employers and the emergency services. Paul receives a call from his captor demanding the US government to make a transfer of $5 million within two hours. Paul is then put in touch with hostage negotiator, Dan Brenner to tell him that the US goverment will not deal with terrorists and that he has to preserve his battery life as his location can be traced. Paul caves in to his captor's pressure to make a video from his phone to plead for funds and recieves a video message showing one of his co-workers being shot. An informant tells Dan where Paul is and are going to dig him out but sand is pouring in to his coffin as a result of a nearby bombing raid, Paul receives another call from Dan to inform him that they have been led to the wrong grave.



Analysis: Although you can not see it, you can hear that a mobile phone is being used. This is trying to draw the audience in and creating confusion as we do not know what is going on which is used in horror movie trailers to make the audience pay attention. There is also a man breathing heavily which is used to emphasise a sense of panic and horror. This sticks to the conventions of horror movies. There is hardly any lighting and completely black throughout most of the trailer. This is used to make the audience concentrate on the sound and to not give much information away which is conventional in horror movie trailers to make the audience see the movie. The flickers from the lighter is showing us what is happening but it is still not giving too much away which is used to make the audience want to go see the film. The low lighting and the dark colour scheme is used to create eeriness which horror movies are trying to do. There are no different angles or movement in the trailer. This is ambiguous and making the audience pay attention. The one long shot is also ambiguous as it does not leave much information to go by which will make people see the movie to know what is going on. It looks like there is only one shot so this is creating continuity editing which does not stick to the horror movie trailer convention. The graphics like the title and date fades in and out and increases in size. This is to tell the audience what it is and when to see it. There are a lot of asynchronous sounds in this trailer as you can hear it but not see it. The loud, heavy breathing is giving the audence a sense that something is wrong which is creating a sinister atmosphere. The beeps is giving us a hint as to what is going on as we cannot see which is making us fill with anticipation. The man's voice is making us feel uneased. The dialogue is telling us what happened which gives us an insight to what is going on. The long beeping noise is used to tell us that the man has lost reception which is building suspense and tension with out showing anything. The emphasis on the sound of the lighter gives us a little hint of excitement to finally see this man. This trailer does not have a vioceover which is conventional in horror film trailers. The volume of the music is low but as the trailer progresses, it gets louder and at the end minimal notes are used to make sure the audience still feel anxious.