Heartless - DISTINCT

Don't Ignore Setting, Themes, Iconography, Narrative, Characters, Techinical codes

Setting

The setting for the film "Heartless" appears to be somewhere within London, due to the style of buildings and the accents that the characters have. Other more specific areas seem to be the main character's home, workplace and alleyways nearby. 

Themes

Heartless' trailer opens with what we discover to be the main character talking about the birthmark which stretches across his face, this is clearly a major issue for the main character and will be a big theme within the film. The trailer goes on to show gangs and "demons", meaning a variety of themes altogether, some relatively normal and some supernatural. 

Iconography

Flickering lights within the beginning of the trailer is stereotypical of horror trailers and usually represents something bad about to happen, it makes the viewer feel more uneasy. The hood worn by the main character shows that he tries to hide himself, mainly his face as he seems to be ashamed of the birth mark on his face. Another key prop seen within the trailer is the gun, which could be for either protection or for hunting the "demons" down. 

Narrative

The trailer allows us to see the basic outline of the story, because giving the whole story away would remove the need to watch the film. It tells us about the main character's birth mark and how he has struggled with it, and of the "demons". It briefly covers a deal in which he loses his birth mark, but gives no details of who it is that is offering him this. We can assume that he has been told to kill someone in return for the removal of his birth mark from the later part of the trailer. 

Characters

We follow Jamie, the main character who has a birth mark on his face, this has clearly affected him throughout his life. He himself says it feels like he is leading two lives, one where he is abused for his physical appearance and another where he feels "normal". Another character seen in the trailer is the one we see has been scratched and can assume is a friend of Jamie. There is also the one who makes him the offer in which he loses the mark, supposedly his girlfriend and also the man who "expects him to kill someone".

Technical codes

Camera angles are mostly showing the whole of Jamie's body, or at least shoulders and above. Perhaps this is to emphasise his birthmark with the rest of his face. Close ups are used in the peeling of the burnt flesh to reveal the new. Angles are kept constant throughout, without the use of canting. Lighting begins flickering, causing unease from the beginning, it continues to remain dark throughout, indicating the horror genre.