Grid of 9 analysis of ‘The Number 23’
(0:11) The opening shot establishes a dark, mysterious
street, which reflects the eerie music. Straight away you
know it’s going to be a thriller. “A novel fate” relates to
the film, which is later made apparent.
(1:21) This caption proposes questions to the audience
and it is used to make them tense about the upcoming
rising action. The use of intercut captions is more typical
of the horror genre and this is reflected by the scary font
colour and the blood red colour.
(2:04) The rising action comes to the climax after
approximately 25 seconds. The end of the rising action
reinforces the film name, here written in logo
topography. The name is a trademark, which is
supposed to be memorable especially as the captions
followed a similar font. The slow pace returns.
(0:23) With less than 30 seconds into the trailer, this shot
reinforces he name of the film in the audience’s mind. It
is very important for the film name to be memorable to
sell the product. The book is a vivid red, which is
associated with blood, horror and romance. We are
introduced to the main characters, a normal
heterosexual couple.
(1:25) The word ‘Hell’ is clearly focused on due to it
being in the centre of the shot and circled numerous
times. This adds tension as the pace fastens.
(2:11) The name of the film usually is the ending of a
trailer but it carries on here. The pace is slower but there
is still tense music. The audience is left in confusion
asking many questions, as he is shown with his wife in
one shot and another women in another shot. This is
representing his 2 sides.
(1:13) The pace fastens up slightly as the novel is
starting to be unravelled and Jim Carrey’s character
becomes more obsessed. He shows how the number 23
relates to him in many ways, which may make the
audience feel at unease and scared. There are sudden
noises and flashes of shots, which make it more
dramatic.
(1:40) The rising action starts, which is made apparent
by the dramatic, fast paced music and a lot of short, fast
shots. Again there are flashes of light in between shots.
(2:20) We are left with a powerful line; the wife says,
“You could never hurt anyone” and the man replies,
“How do you know?” This leaves the audience excited
and curious. The last few shots are credits and COMING
SOON in the font, which is typical of any trailer.
Grid of 9 analysis of ‘The Number 23’